AGO Receives Appreciation For Name 4 CPO Corruption Suspects

Attorney General's Office/Photo: Antara

BOGOR - Chairman of the Bogor City DPRD, Atang Trisnanto, appreciated the Attorney General's Office (Kejagung) who had named four suspects in the alleged corruption case of crude palm oil (CPO) which caused a shortage of cooking oil.

"I think this step from the AGO is very good to improve the situation going forward," said Atang in Bogor City, Thursday, April 21.

He views that the disclosure and determination of the four suspects by the Attorney General's Office needs to be appreciated as a form of seriousness from the government to address the causes of the problem of scarcity and rising cooking oil prices.

On Tuesday (19/4) Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin named the Director-General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade (Dirjen Perdaglu of the Ministry of Trade) Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana (IWW) as a suspect in the alleged corruption case of crude palm oil (CPO) which caused a shortage of cooking oil.

Apart from IWW, the three other suspects named by the AGO are the Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs of Permata Hijau Group Stanley M. A. (SMA), Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Parulian Tumanggor (MPT), and General Manager of General Affairs of PT Musim Mas Picare Togar Sitanggang (PT.).

The reason for the increase in cooking oil prices has been explained by the government since Thursday (28/11) through the Director-General of Domestic Trade of the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) RI Oke Nurwan.

He stated that domestic cooking oil prices had soared due to the increase in world crude palm oil (CPO) prices.

The government continues to monitor producers and traders so that they continue to sell cooking oil at the highest retail price (HET) so that the price of cooking oil does not spike.

Then, on Thursday (27/1), the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Muhammad Lutfi announced the highest retail price (HET) of cooking oil was set at IDR 11,500 per liter for bulk cooking oil, IDR 13,500 per liter for simple packaging, and IDR 14,000 per liter. liter for premium packaging is valid from Tuesday (1/2).

However, in reality, the price of cooking oil that reaches the depot or agent to traders in the market is mostly sold above HET.

This is because depots and retailers in various regions have revealed that the availability of cooking oil according to HET is limited to them.

In particular, simple packaged cooking oil is hard to find, as well as premium packaged cooking oil which is often empty in traditional markets and retail stores.

The central government also changed the cooking oil subsidy only for bulk cooking oil by IDR 14,000 per liter and IDR 15,000 per kilogram.

But then, bulk cooking oil also became scarce while premium packaged cooking oil was abundant in retail stores with an average price of above Rp22,000.

Even if there is, bulk cooking oil can only be sold in a limited way by traders because of the lack of stock.

In Bogor City, Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto, Deputy Mayor of Bogor Dedie A. Rachim and Chairman of the Bogor City DPRD Atang Trisnanto took turns conducting market reviews.

On Thursday, February 24, DPRD chairman Atang Trisnanto who accompanied Dedie Rachim added that with limited availability conditions, shop traders at Pasar Baru Bogor admitted that from the usual they were given stock of 10 boxes of cooking oil, now only two boxes per purchase.

According to him, it is easy to see the reason for the fluctuation in the price of cooking oil in the trading system. If there is a lot of stock, the price will decrease, otherwise, if the stock decreases, the price will increase.

Since the determination of HET by the central government, the stock sent is still limited so that price differences still occur in the market.

In fact, following up on the prolonged scarcity of cooking oil, Bima Arya directly inspected the cooking oil depots in the Taman Cimanggu Housing Estate in Cimanggu Park, Kedung Jaya Village, Tanah Sareal District on Thursday (7/4).

Then, on Tuesday, April 12, Bima Arya accompanied the Deputy Minister of Trade (Wamendag) Jerry Sambuaga to review the availability of bulk cooking oil at Pasar Baru Bogor. It was found that the condition was still the same, traders complained of lack of stock to sell.

"Therefore, we support that this case be dismantled to its roots. Hopefully this will be the beginning to eradicate the problems that have been troubling the community," he said, quoted by Antara.