Attorney General's Office Probes Former Director General of Customs Askolani, Probing CPO Trade Practices

The Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung) is examining the export trade framework for crude palm oil (CPO) as it questions former Director General of Customs Askolani of the Ministry of Finance. He is being examined as a witness in the investigation into alleged irregularities in CPO and derivative product exports during 2022-2024. ‘During the examination, investigators asked among other things about policies and regulations relating to the trade in POME (palm oil mill effluent),’ said Anang Supriatna, head of the Legal Information Centre at the Kejagung, in Jakarta on Thursday (21 May 2026). ‘There are documents that were requested,’ Anang added. Previously, investigators under Jampidsus (the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes) of the Kejagung had named 11 suspects in the case, including LHB, head of the Non-Food Plantation Products Industry Subdirectorate and Junior Policy Analyst and Industry Supervisor for the Forest Produce Industry; FJR, Director of Technical Customs at the Directorate General of Customs; MZ, head of the Outreach and Information Services Section of KPBC Pekanbaru; and ES, director of PT SMP, PT SMA, and PT SMS. The alleged irregularities involve the misclassification of CPO exports, which substances constitute high-acid crude palm oil, deliberately claimed as POME or PAO using different HS codes. The classification manipulation aimed to circumvent Indonesia’s export controls on CPO.