Attorney General's Office Raids 16 Offices and Homes in POME Case, Six Vehicles Seized

The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) has raided a total of 16 residences and offices linked to a suspected corruption case involving the manipulation of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) export codes to Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) during the 2022–2024 period.

Head of the Attorney General’s Legal Information Centre, Anang Supriatna, said the searches were carried out by investigators in the Medan and Pekanbaru areas between 12 and 14 February.

“A series of raids were conducted at several locations, including approximately 11 sites in the North Sumatra and Medan area, and five locations in the Pekanbaru area,” he told reporters on Thursday (19 February).

“The searches were carried out at residences, offices, and premises belonging to several parties affiliated with the suspects,” he added.

Anang said investigators seized a number of items of evidence during the raids, including documents, mobile phones, computers, and six motor vehicles.

“There is one Toyota Alphard, one Toyota Corolla Hybrid, one Avanza along with their vehicle ownership certificates, as well as three other four-wheeled vehicles — approximately six in total,” he explained.

The POME corruption case originated when the government imposed restrictions and controls on CPO exports to safeguard cooking oil supplies and maintain price stability in the domestic market.

However, investigators discovered that export commodity classifications for CPO had been manipulated using export codes for POME or Palm Acid Oil (PAO) — residues from palm oil processing.

Evidence was found of bribery payments made and received with the intention of facilitating the administrative and supervisory processes for exports.

Based on preliminary calculations, state financial losses resulting from the manipulation of CPO export codes to POME are estimated at between Rp10.6 trillion and Rp14.3 trillion.

To date, a total of 11 individuals have been named as suspects. Three of them are state officials, namely FJR, a former Director of Customs Techniques at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC); LHB, Head of the Non-Food Plantation Industry Subdivision at the Ministry of Industry; and MZ, Head of the Outreach and Information Services Section at the Pekanbaru Customs and Excise Office.