AGO Determines Trade Minister Lutfi's Men As Suspects For CPO Export Permit, Member Of Commission VI: This Case Must Be Revealed To The Public

Member of Commission VI DPR RI, Subardi. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VI of the DPR RI, Subardi, appreciates the steps taken by the Attorney General's Office in uncovering cases of alleged corruption in providing export facilities for Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and its derivatives. The provision of export facilities is suspected to be the cause of the scarcity of cooking oil in the country.

As is known, the Attorney General's Office has named four suspects in this case. One of them is a subordinate of the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi, the Director General (Dirjen) of Foreign Trade (Daglu) of the Ministry of Trade with the initials IWW (Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana).

Meanwhile, the other three suspects are from the private sector. They are the Senior Manager of Corporate affairs of Permata Hijau Group with initials SMA (Stanley MA); The President Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia with the initials MPT (Master Parulian Tumanggor); and the General Manager of PT Musim Mas with the initials PT (Pierre Togar).

"The AGO's move is correct. I appreciate it. This case must be disclosed to the public. There should not be a game of CPO import-export flow. Moreover, this is regulated by the Director General as the official in charge," he said in Jakarta, Tuesday, April 19.

Subardi said previously, Commission VI of the DPR as a working partner of the Ministry of Trade held a hearing on March 30, 2022 with the Director General of Domestic Trade, Director General of Foreign Trade, and the Director General of Consumer Protection and Orderly Commerce. The RDP agenda at that time discussed controlling food prices.

According to Subardi, all factions in Commission VI of the DPR are questioning the management of cooking oil which is still a mess. Likewise with the issue of CPO exports which are considered to have many loopholes to control.

With the determination of the suspect, Subardi assessed that this case was not just an ordinary corruption case, but a malicious behavior that injured all Indonesian people.

"For me, this is irony. Only on March 30 did we have an RDP with the Director General (the suspect), to discuss the supervision of cooking oil management and price control. It turns out that behind that there is a hidden crime," said the NasDem legislator.

Subardi said the modus operandi of the suspects was against the law, giving approval for the export of CPO and its derivative products to certain companies.

"If it involves many companies, this is a joint venture. There is an evil alliance. This means that this crime has been arranged to take advantage of the high demand for domestic cooking oil," he said.

Therefore, Subardi hopes that the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi needs to immediately respond to this case by evaluating the CPO and cooking oil trading system. He also urged that after this case, the spike in cooking oil prices over the last six months would return to normal.

"Don't let it drag on. The people's losses from rising cooking oil prices are quite large," he said.