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Wilmar’s legal officer named suspect in palm oil bribery case
Wilmar Group legal officer Muhammad Syafei allegedly provided the Rp 60 billion (US$3.56 million) that was later used to bribe the judges and a court clerk in exchange for the acquittal of three companies in a corruption case pertaining to crude palm oil (CPO) exports.
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Attorney General's Office (AGO) investigators escort Wilmar Group's social security legal head Muhammad Syafei (center) to a prisoner van on April 15, 2025, following an interrogation at the AGO's headquarters in Jakarta. The AGO named Syafei a bribery suspect for allegedly providing Rp 60 billion that was used to bribe judges in exchange for the acquittal of three palm oil companies in a corruption case pertaining to crude palm oil exports. (Antara/Fauzan)
T
he Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has named a legal officer of palm oil company Wilmar Group a bribery suspect in a case pertaining to the acquittal of three companies for corruption involving crude palm oil (CPO) exports.
AGO investigators alleged that Wilmar Group’s social security legal head Muhammad Syafei provided the money used to bribe the judges to acquit the companies in the case.
“Based on witness testimony and other documents, investigators have found sufficient evidence to name MSY a suspect in the case,” said Abdul Qohar, investigations director at the office of the assistant attorney general for extraordinary crimes, during a press briefing on Tuesday evening, using Syafei’s initials.
The suspect was immediately detained at the Salemba detention center in Jakarta for the next 20 days.
Syafei became the eighth suspect in the case. In the past days, the AGO named judges Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, Agam Syarif Baharuddin, Ali Muhtarom and Djuyamto; court clerk Wahyu Gunawan; and lawyers Marcella Santoso and Ariyanto Bakri suspects in the bribery case.
According to the AGO, Wahyu reached out to Ariyanto, who acted as a legal representative for palm oil corporations Wilmar, Permata Hijau Group and Musim Mas Group, to offer help rigging the case so the companies would be acquitted of all charges.
The three companies stood trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court in a case pertaining to illegal CPO exports that were blamed for contributing to a local cooking oil shortage in 2022. In their verdict on March 19, the 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.
