Corruption Case for Cooking Oil, Former Assistance Team for the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Lin Che Wei Charged with 8 Years in Prison

PHOTO: ANTARA/Desca Lidya Natalia

JAKARTA - The former Assistance Team for the Coordinating Minister for the Economy who is also a policy adviser/analyst at the Independent Research & Advisory Indonesia (IRAI) Weibinanto Halimdjati alias Lin Che Wei was charged with eight years in prison in a case of alleged corruption in Crude Palm Oil (CPO) Export Agreement (PE) or cooking oil and its derivatives at the Ministry of Trade.

"Declaring that the defendant Weibinanto Halimdjati alias Lin Che Wei has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing the crime of corruption which was carried out together as the primary charge. Sentenced the defendant Weibinanto Halimdjati alias Lin Che Wei with imprisonment for eight years and fined IDR 1 billion if they are not paid, they will be subject to imprisonment for six months," said the public prosecutor (JPU) of the Attorney General's Office, Zulkipli, at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor), reported by ANTARA, Thursday, December 22.

Lin Che Wei was charged based on the primary charge of article 2 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 18 of Law No. 31 of 1999 as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 concerning Eradication of Corruption jo. Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code.

"The thing that is aggravating, is the defendant's actions did not support the government in eradicating corruption, the defendant's actions caused unrest in the wider community and lost public trust in the government in meeting people's food needs and caused huge losses to the state and state economic losses," added the prosecutor.

Meanwhile, the mitigating things in Lin Che Wei's actions are that he is considered not to have enjoyed the proceeds of a crime, has never been convicted, and has family responsibilities.

In this case, there are five defendants namely Commissioner PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Palulian Tumanggor, Senior Manager Corporate Affair PT. Victorindo Alam Lestari Stanley Ma, General Manager (GM) General Affair Section of PT Musim Mas Pierre Togar Sitanggang, policy adviser/analyst at Independent Research & Advisory Indonesia (IRAI) who is also the Assistant Team for the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Weibinanto Halimdjati alias Lin Che Wei and former Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade Indra Sari Wisnu Wardhana.

The five are suspected of enriching several corporations, namely first, companies that are members of the Wilmar Group, namely PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, PT Multimas Nabati Asahan, PT Sinar Alam Permai, PT Multimas Nabati Sulawesi, PT Wilmar Bioenergi Indonesia, a total of IDR 1,693,219,882,064.

Second, the companies that are members of the Musim Mas Group, namely PT Musim Mas, PT Musim Mas – Fuji, PT Intibenua Perkasatama, PT. Agro Makmur Raya, PT. Megasurya Mas, PT. Wira Inno Mas, a total of IDR 626,630,516,604.

Third, the companies that are members of the Permata Hijau Group, namely PT Permata Hijau Palm Oleo, PT Nagamas Palmoil Lestari, PT Permata Hijau Sawit, and PT Pelita Agung Agrindustri totaling IDR 124,418,318,216

The actions of the five defendants resulted in losses to the state finances and the country's economy with details.

First, it caused a total loss of IDR 6,047,645,700,000 in state finances as a result of the BPKP BPKP audit Number: PE.03/SR – 511/D5/01/2022 dated 18 July 2022. From these state losses, there was a state loss of IDR 2,952,526,912,294. 45 which is a loss burden borne by the government from the issuance of PE for companies that are members of the Wilmar Group (1,658,195,109,817.11), Permata Hijau Group (IDR 186,430,960,865.26), and Musim Mas Group (IDR 1,107,900 .841,612.08).

Second, the impact of losses to the country's economy due to the scarcity and high price of cooking oil which creates a high burden on the economy is felt by the public and companies that use CPO-derived raw materials.

Based on the Study Report on Analysis of Illegal Gains and State Economic Losses Due to Corruption in the Cooking Oil Sector from the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Gadjah Mada University on 15 July 2022, there was a loss to the country's economy due to scarcity and high cooking oil prices totaling IDR 10,960,141,557,673,- consisting of household losses of IDR 1,351,911,733,986 and business losses of IDR 9,608,229,823,687

Against these demands, the five defendants will submit a memorandum of defense (pleidoi) on December 27, 2022.