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AGO's probe into cooking oil case raises more questions than answers
The AGO continues to probe the case linked to alleged mishandling of the issuance of palm oil export permits, with investigators under the assistant attorney general for extraordinary crimes interrogating three Trade Ministry officials on Tuesday.
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People queue to purchase subsidized cooking oil provided by the local government in Surabaya, East Java, on Feb. 18, 2022. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
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cooking oil crisis that was initially triggered by the Russian-Ukrainian war has taken a surprising turn after the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) named suspects last week in an alleged corruption case that was reportedly the cause of the scarcity of cooking oil.
The AGO continues to probe the case linked to alleged mishandling of the issuance of palm oil export permits, with investigators under the assistant attorney general for extraordinary crimes interrogating three Trade Ministry officials on Tuesday.
The four suspects, a senior Trade Ministry official and three corporate executives of palm oil firms are suspected of having engaged in corrupt practices related to the processing of the permits that led to the soaring prices and scarcity of cooking oil, according to assistant attorney general for extraordinary crimes Febrie Adriansyah last week.
According to the AGO, all four suspects colluded in efforts to illegally obtain export permits. The companies did not qualify for export permits because they had failed to fulfill their domestic market obligation (DMO), which requires crude palm oil (CPO) producers to sell a certain portion of their planned exports at home for no more than Rp 9,300 (64 US cents) per kilogram.
The AGO is still working closely with auditors from the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), which is calculating potential losses to the state and the negative impacts on the economy from the alleged graft.
But questions remain as to whether they can build a strong case against the suspects on corruption charges or whether they merely amount to administrative violations, as industry sources have claimed.
Palm oil business representatives have cried foul over the arrests, saying that the three accused executives had followed the prevailing regulations and have argued that they are victims of the government’s inconsistent policy and incompetence in managing cooking oil prices.
