The Attorney General's Office has detained a high-ranking official from the Trade Ministry and three palm oil company executives on suspicion of being involved in a plot concerning the export permit for crude palm oil.
By
Kompas Team
·5 minutes read
KURNIA YUNITA RAHAYU
Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin when announcing the determination of four suspects in the corruption of cooking oil export permits in Jakarta, Tuesday (19/4/2022).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Attorney General's Office’s (AGO) decision to name as graft suspects a key official from the Trade Ministry and three executives of palm oil companies in relation to the export license for crude palm oil (CPO) and derivative products has unveiled a plot that facilitates international sales of cooking oil while ignoring domestic needs. The activity is alleged to be one cause behind the cooking oil shortage in the country.
Two of the four people who have been named as suspects in the case are the ministry’s foreign trade director general, Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, and the commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, Master Parulian Tumanggor. The two other suspects have been identified as the corporate affairs senior manager at Permata Hijau Group, Stanley M.A., and the general manager of general affairs at PT Musim Mas, Picare Togare Sitanggang.
After they were named as suspects on Tuesday (4/19/2022), the AGO detained the four in two separate facilities, namely the detention center at the AGO complex and the detention center at the South Jakarta District Prosecutors’ Office, both in Salemba.
"We have conducted an investigation and found strong indications of acts of corruption related to the export permit for cooking oil, which made it difficult for the people [to buy cooking oil], because they have to queue and because there is also a shortage of cooking oil. [As a consequence], the state has also had to provide direct cash assistance for cooking oil, the value of which is not small,” Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Regarding this case, Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said in a press statement: "We support the ongoing legal process and are ready to provide the information necessary in the process of enforcing the law."
Lutfi also highlighted that he always emphasized that his staff carry out licensing services in accordance with the existing regulations and in a transparent manner. Therefore, he supported the legal process if abuse of power was proven to have occurred.
According to Trade Ministry data as of 9 March 2022, Wilmar Group, Musim Mas and Permata Hijau were among the top five cooking oil producers whose products were distributed nationwide on 14 Feb. -8 March 2022.
RENY SRI AYU ARMAN
Hundreds of residents gathered in front of a shop on Jalan Veteran, Makassar, Friday (25/3/2022) selling bulk cooking oil for Rp 15,500/liter. Until now, cooking oil is still rare and expensive in the market.
Against the law
The AGO opened an investigation into alleged corruption in the provision of export facilities for CPO and derivative products in January 2021-March 2022. From questioning 19 witnesses and reviewing 596 related documents and letters as well as expert testimony, the investigators found sufficient preliminary evidence to detain the four individuals on suspicion of committing an unlawful act.
The unlawful act was a king of conspiracy that involved the Trade Ministry’s foreign trade director general approving licenses for certain companies to export CPO and derivative products, even though they did not meet the requirements. This had incurred losses to the state’s finances and the economy.
The relevant export requirements refer to Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 8/2022 on Export Policies and Regulations, which stipulates that all producers intending to export CPO or olein must supply 20 percent of the export volume to the domestic market. The domestic sales price is set at Rp 9,300 per kilogram for CPO and Rp 10,300 per kilogram for olein.
According to Attorney General Sanitiar, the suspects from the three companies had communicated intensely with Indrasari to obtain her approval for exporting. As a result, export permits were issued to four companies, namely Permata Hijau Group, Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, PT Multimas Nabati Asahan and Musim Mas.
"In fact, these companies are not [eligible] for obtaining approval to export," said Sanitiar.
The suspects are alleged to have violated Article 54, paragraph (1), letrer A and paragraph (2), letters A, B, E, and F of Law No. 7/2014 on Trade. They are also suspected of violating the Trade Ministerial Decree on determining the domestic distribution volume and domestic sales prices, as well as the Foreign Trade Director General’s Regulation, a technical regulation on exporting CPO, RDB palm olein (refined CPO product) and used cooking oil (UCO).
Director of the Center of Economics and Law, Bhima Yudhisthira, said that the naming of the four suspects showed that the ministerial officials who were supposed to oversee the trade system for cooking oil had actually become part of the “mafia” game. As a result, the people had become victims.
Corporate crime
The Attorney General said the alleged corruption was still being investigated. It was also likely that the prosecutor's office would explore the possibility of gratuities and the involvement of higher officials. As for state losses, this was still being calculated. The Prosecutor's Office would also focus its case on economic losses to the state. Therefore, the companies would also be held accountable.
Separately, criminal law lecturer Agustinus Pohan from Parahyangan University in Bandung, West Java, said that the criminal case developed by the AGO actually pointed to Article 2 of the Corruption Law. Agreeing to issue export permits to companies that did not meet the requirements was an unlawful act.
In addition, there were also indications that the act had incurred of financial losses to the state, which was still being calculated. At the very least, losses had been incurred from the cooking oil shortage in the domestic market and the resulting provision of the government’s direct cash assistance for low-income households. However, the AGO also needed to collect evidence in building its case that the suspects’ plot had benefited individuals or corporations. (NIA/HEN/ SYA/DEA)
