Former Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi Is Confirmed Not To Attend Cooking Oil Corruption Examination Tomorrow

The Head of the Legal Information Center of the Attorney General's Office, Ketut Sumedana, confirmed that the former Minister of Trade (Mendag) Muhammad Lutfi did not fulfill the summons of investigators as witnesses in the investigation of corruption cases in the approval of exports of crude palm oil and its derivative products, including cooking oil.

Ketut explained that investigators received confirmation from legal adviser Muhammad Lutfi who confirmed that his client was unable to attend to fulfill the investigator's summons for questioning on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.

"On the summons, witness ML (Muhammad Lutfi) as the former Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia confirmed that he was certainly not present because he was accompanying his wife's treatment," said Ketut, quoted by ANTARA, Monday, July 1.

The Attorney General's Office through the Investigation Prosecutor's Team at the Directorate of Investigation of the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes has properly summoned Muhammad Lutfi for questioning on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.

Regarding the summons, Muhammad Lutfi's attorney, namely the NKHP Law Firm, was conveyed through an official letter received by the Investigative Team Number: 178/NKHP/VII/2023 dated July 31, 2023.

"For this reason, the investigative team will again send a subsequent summons," said Ketut.

However, Ketut has not informed the schedule for Muhammad Lutfi's next summons.

Muhammad Lutfi was summoned as a witness to be examined regarding the investigation of cases of alleged corruption in the provision of export facilities for crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivatives in the palm oil industry during the period January to April 2022.

Previously, investigators had summoned the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto as a witness in the same case.

Jampidsus investigators at the Attorney General's Office have named three palm oil companies as corporate suspects in the corruption case of the export approval of crude palm oil and its derivative products, including cooking oil on June 15, 2023.

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 legal force, which still causes 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 Kasasi level.

Five defendants have been sentenced to prison within a period of 5 to 8 years. The five convicts are former Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade Indra Sari Wisnu Wardhana, member of the Assistant team of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Lin Chen Wei, Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Palulian Tumanggor, Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs PT Victorindo Alam Lestari Stanley MA, and GM Section General Affairs 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 (places where the convicts worked). Therefore, corporations must be responsible for recovering state losses due to their 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 against 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.