Top Level at Ministry of Trade Investigated for Cooking Oil Scarcity

TheIndonesia.id - Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin named the Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade (Dirjen Perdaglu Kemendag) Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana (IWW) as a suspect in the alleged corruption case of crude palm oil (CPO) which caused a shortage of cooking oil. In addition to IWW, the prosecutor's office also detained three other persons in this case.

"There are four suspects. First, an echelon 1 official at the Ministry of Trade named IWW (namely) the Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade," said Burhanuddin to reporters in Jakarta, Tuesday, April 19, 2022.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) named IWW as a suspect for having issued export approvals related to CPO commodities and its derivative products to Permata Hijau Group, PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, PT Multimas Nabati Asahan, and PT Musim Mas. Apart from IWW, the three other suspects named by the AGO are Permata Hijau Group Senior Manager Corporate Affairs Stanley M. A. (SMA), PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Commissioner Master Parulian Tumanggor (MPT), and PT Musim Mas Picare General Affairs General Manager Togar Sitanggang. (PT).

"The three suspects have communicated intensely with the IWW suspect," added Burhanuddin.

The result of the communication between the three suspects and the IWW suspect was the approval of CPO exports for the Permata Hijau Group companies, PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, and PT Musim Mas. In fact, continued Burhanuddin, the three companies are not entitled to CPO export approval, one of which is because the three companies distribute CPO that is not in accordance with the domestic selling price (DPO).

"The suspect was detained and placed in a different place," he said.

The IWW suspect and the MPT suspect were detained at the Salemba Detention Center of the Attorney General's Office for 20 days, starting from Tuesday to 8 May 2022. Meanwhile, the SMA and PT suspects were detained at the Salemba Detention Center of the South Jakarta District Attorney's Office for 20 days, starting from Tuesday.

"We emphasize that the state will be present and always present to overcome the difficult conditions for the wider community, and we will take firm action for those who take advantage in the midst of society's difficulties," he said.