The Attorney General's Office Examines The Head Of The Legal Bureau And Civil Servants At The Ministry Of Trade Regarding The Cooking Oil Corruption Case

The atmosphere of the verdict for the corruption case of export approval (PE) of crude palm oil and its derivative products at the Corruption Court (Tipikor), Jakarta, Wednesday (4/1/2023). BETWEEN AMILani Ameliya

JAKARTA - Investigators from the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General's Office examined the Head of the Legal Bureau of the Ministry of Trade as a witness in the investigation of corruption cases in the approval of exports of crude palm oil and its derivative products, including cooking oil. Head of the Legal Information Center (Kapuspenkum) of the Attorney General's Office, Ketut Sumeda, said the witness being examined had the initials SH. Apart from SH, he said, investigators also examined a civil servant at the ministry with the initials AS. "The two witnesses were examined in connection with the investigation of cases of alleged corruption in the provision of crude palm oil (CPO) export facilities and their derivatives in the palm oil industry from January 2022 to April 2022," said Ketut in his statement in Jakarta, Antara, Monday, July 17. Saksi SH merujuk pada keterangan Sri Haryati selaku Kepala Biro Hukum Kementerian Perdagangan, sedangkan saksi AS merujuk pada keterangan Arif Sulistyo. Ketut added that the examination of witnesses was to strengthen the evidence and complete the filing in the case. The examination on Thursday (6/7), investigators examined the President Director of PT Sari Agrotama Persana with the initials TM. Jampidsus investigators at the Indonesian Attorney General's Office have named three palm oil companies as corporate suspects in a corruption case in the approval of exports of crude palm oil and its derivative products, including cooking oil, on Thursday (15/6). The three companies, namely Wilmar Group, Permata Hijau Group, and Musim Mas Group. The three of them were proven in this case based on the Supreme Court's decision, which already has permanent legal force, causing state losses of Rp. 6.47 trillion. In the corruption case in the provision of CPO export facilities and their derivatives from January 2021 to March 2022, the trial has been completed at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court and has permanent legal force (inkrah) at the cassation level. Five defendants have been sentenced to prison within a period of 5—8 years. The five convicts are former Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade Indra Sari Wisnu Wardhana, a member of the Assistant team of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Lin Chen Wei, Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Palulian Tumangor, Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs PT Victorindo Alam Lestari Stanley MA, and GM of the General Affairs Section of PT Musim Mas Pierre Togas Sitanggang. In the decision of this case, there is one very important thing, namely that the panel of judges views the actions of the convicts as corporate actions. Therefore, the panel of judges stated that those who received illegal profits were corporations (where the convicts worked). Therefore, corporations must be responsible for recovering state losses due to these criminal acts. In addition, the actions of the convicts have also had a significant impact, namely the occurrence of expensiveness and scarcity of cooking oil, resulting in a decrease in people's purchasing power, especially for cooking oil commodities.

As a result, in order to maintain people's purchasing power for cooking oil commodities, the state was forced to disburse funds to the public in the form of direct cash assistance worth IDR 6.19 trillion.