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Court officials arrested over acquittal in palm oil corruption case
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) arrested over the weekend four suspects, including a district court head and a clerk, for alleged bribery in the acquittal of three companies for corruption involving crude palm oil exports a month ago.
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People queue on Feb. 18, 2022, to purchase cooking oil provided by the local government in Surabaya in an effort to stabilize prices amid shortages. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
T
he Attorney General’s Office (AGO) arrested over the weekend four suspects, including a district court head and a clerk, for alleged bribery in the acquittal of three companies for corruption involving crude palm oil exports a month ago.
Three major palm oil companies – the Wilmar Group, Permata Hijau Group and Musim Mas Group – were acquitted of all charges by the Central Jakarta District Court last month in the illegal crude palm oil (CPO) exports that were blamed for contributing to a local cooking oil shortage in 2022. In their verdict on March 19 of this year, the panel of three judges determined that the companies had not conducted criminal acts when securing permits for exporting CPO and its derivatives at a time when shipments were restricted.
Around midnight on Sunday, the AGO arrested Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, who was the Central Jakarta District Court deputy head at the start of the trial of the three companies in early 2024 until he assumed a new post in November of the same year.
AGO investigators accused Arif of receiving bribes paid by two other suspects Marcella Santoso and Arianto, who are lawyers, to influence the verdict to the benefit of the three companies.
Arif currently serves as the South Jakarta District Court head.
Read also: Prosecutors name three palm oil groups suspects in corruption case
The fourth suspect who was arrested over the weekend is a junior clerk at the North Jakarta District Court identified as Wahyu Gunawan. AGO investigators accused Wahyu of acting as an intermediary in paying the bribes to Arif.
