5 Corruption Defendants For CPO Export Permits For Minor Sentences, AGO For Appealing

5 defendants in the corruption case with the approval of the export of crude palm oil or CPO underwent trial on Wednesday, January 4, 2023. (Between-Hafidz M A)

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has appealed the decision of the corruption case on the approval of the export of crude palm oil (CPO).

The AGO assessed that the five defendants in this case were sentenced to lighter than the demands of the Public Prosecutor (JPU) so that they did not fulfill the public's sense of justice.

"On the decision of the panel of judges, the public prosecutor made an appeal, because it was not in accordance with the community's sense of justice," said the Head of the Legal Information Center (Kapuspenkum) at the Attorney General's Office, Ketut Sumedana in a written statement, Thursday, January 5, as reported by Antara.

The panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) sentenced five defendants in a corruption case in the approval of the export of crude palm oil or CPO lower than the demands of the AGO prosecutor. The reason is that in the trial, state losses were not proven.

The verdict against five defendants, namely the Director General (Dirjen) of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) Indra Sari Wisnu Wardhana, was sentenced to three years in prison, a fine of Rp. 100 million, a subsidiary of two months.

The defendant, Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Parulian Tumanggor, was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison, a fine of Rp. 100 million, a subsidiary of two months.

Senior Defendant Manager of Corporate Affairs PT Victorindo Alam Lestari Stanley Ma was sentenced to one year in prison, a fine of Rp. 100 million, a subsidiary of two months.

Then, the defendant Lin Chie Wei alias Weibinanto Halimdjati, a former member of the Coordinating Minister's Assistance Team for Economic Affairs, was sentenced to one year in prison, a fine of Rp. 100 million, a subsidiary of two months.

General Manager (GM) of the General Affairs Section of PT Musim Mas Pierre Togar Sitanggang was sentenced to one year in prison, a fine of Rp. 100 million, a subsidiary of two months.

Ketut menila, an appeal was made because the sense of justice was not fulfilled. He said the community felt the impact was quite large, until the government issued a budget of trillions of rupiah for direct cash assistance (BLT) for cooking oil to help affected communities.

"Especially the losses suffered by the community, namely the state economy and including state losses," said Ketut.

The AGO intervened to handle corruption cases in the approval of exports of crude palm oil or CPO and its derivatives that occurred in the period January 2021 to March 2022.

The scarcity of cooking oil, when Indonesia is the largest producer of CPO, is a special note for the prosecutor's office to investigate the case. In addition, this case also involves many affected people.

Violations committed, employers do not fulfill their obligations to meet the domestic CPO needs of 20 percent. Due to the high price of cooking oil abroad, entrepreneurs seek profit by making large-scale exports, or exceeding the quota allowed.

Attorney General's Office investigators are not only looking for state losses incurred, but also state economic losses, where the government has budgeted around Rp. 18 trillion for BLT cooking oil.

In this case, investigators had time to examine former Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, but the person concerned was not presented at the trial as a witness.