Minister to be questioned in palm oil corruption case

Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) was planning to subpoena Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto for questioning as a witness in its investigation into a palm oil corruption case which led to the imprisonment of five people in January this year, Asia News Network reported on 20 July.

Investigators were currently seeking to hold three palm oil private companies criminally liable for misconduct in obtaining export permits, Asia News Network wrote from a Jakarta Post report.

Last year, the AGO arrested former Trade Ministry international trade director general Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana and three company executives on allegations they were colluding to obtain crude palm oil (CPO) export permits despite not meeting domestic market obligation (DMO) requirements. Economist Lin Che Wei was also arrested on charges of helping the three executives obtain the export permits illegally.

All five were sentenced to prison in January for conspiring to secure CPO export permits through illegal means from January 2021 to March 2022. The Supreme Court, which later increased their prison sentences to between five and eight years, found their crime had resulted in Rp6.4tr (US$426.5M) in state losses.

In June, the AGO named three palm oil corporate groups – Wilmar Group (the parent company of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia), Musim Mas Group and Permata Hijau Group – as suspects in the case after finding indications that the three imprisoned executives had acted on behalf of these companies. It confiscated some of the companies' assets in Medan, North Sumatra, including 14,687ha of land, 56 ships, a helicopter, a business jet and some US$598M worth of cash in rupiah and foreign currencies.