Attorney General's Office reveals reasons for questioning Askolani in the CPO export case

Jakarta – The Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung) disclosed the reasons for questioning former Director General of Customs Askolani on Wednesday (20 May) as a witness in the investigation into alleged corruption involving irregularities in the export of crude palm oil (CPO) and its downstream products during 2022-2024. Head of the Legal Information Centre (Kapuspenkum) of the Attorney General’s Office Anang Supriatna in Jakarta, on Thursday said investigators want to delve deeper into the governance of CPO exports. ‘In the examination, investigators asked among other things about the policies and regulations related to the governance of POME (palm oil mill effluent),’ he said. In addition, he continued, investigators also requested documents from Askolani as additional testimony. ‘There were documents requested,’ he said. Earlier, the investigators from the State Prosecutor’s Office for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General’s Office named 11 suspects in the case, namely LHB, who is Sub-Directorate of Non-Food Plantation Hasil Industri and Functional Policy Analysis and Industry Development of Senior Expert at the Directorate of Forest Product Industry, Ministry of Industry; FJR, as Technical Director of Customs at the Directorate General of Customs; MZ, Head of Extension and Information Services of KPBC Pekanbaru; ES, as Director of PT SMP, PT SMA, and PT SMS. Then, ERW as Director of PT BMM; FLX as President Director of PT AP and Head of Commerce PT AP; RND as Director of PT TAJ; TNY as Director of PT TEO; VNR as Director of PT SIP; RBN as Director of PT CKK; and YSR as Director of PT MAS and Commissioner of PT SBP. The irregularities allegedly committed by the suspects involve the export commodity classification for CPO which, in substance, is high-acid-content CPO, deliberately claimed as POME or PAO by using a different HS Code. The misclassification was aimed at avoiding government control over CPO exports.