Attorney General's Office Seizes 6 Vehicles and Documents in Palm Oil Waste Export Corruption Case
The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) has raided 16 residences and offices in Medan, North Sumatra, and Pekanbaru, Riau. The searches are connected to an alleged corruption case involving the export of palm oil mill effluent (POME), or palm oil waste, in 2022, currently under investigation by the Kejagung.
Kejagung spokesperson Anang Supriatna said the raids took place between 12 and 14 February 2026.
“A series of searches were conducted at several locations. These included approximately 11 locations in the North Sumatra and Medan area, and 5 locations in the Pekanbaru area. The searches were carried out at residences, offices, and premises belonging to several parties affiliated with the suspects,” Anang told reporters at the Kejagung complex in South Jakarta on Thursday (19 February 2025).
From the raids, investigators seized a number of items of evidence believed to be strongly linked to the alleged palm oil waste corruption case, including documents, mobile phones, computers, and six motor vehicles.
“So far there is one Toyota Alphard, a Toyota Corolla Hybrid, one Avanza along with its vehicle ownership certificates, and three additional four-wheeled vehicles — approximately six in total,” Anang detailed.
The documents seized include land certificates, transaction records, and electronic evidence. All assets subject to seizure were registered under the names of the suspects’ companies and their affiliated parties.
“Documents were obtained from several companies and also from a number of offices. In one office, there were several registered companies. Documents relating to CPO activities were also recovered from a residence,” Anang disclosed.
Anang added that investigators would analyse the various items of evidence that had been seized to probe more deeply into the criminal offences committed by the suspects.
The Palm Oil Waste Export Corruption Case
As previously reported, the Kejagung has named 11 individuals as suspects in the POME export corruption case of 2022. Three of the suspects are state officials, whilst the remainder are from the private sector.
Director of Investigation at the Kejagung’s Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, revealed that the modus operandi in this case involved irregularities in the form of engineered classification of crude palm oil (CPO) export commodities. High-acid CPO was claimed to be POME using an HS code designated for residue or solid waste from CPO.
“The purpose of this classification engineering was to circumvent CPO export controls, so that commodities which were essentially CPO could be exported as though they were not CPO, thereby being exempted from or having reduced obligations imposed by the state,” Syarief said at a press conference at the Kejagung building on Tuesday (10 February).
“This occurred because there was the drafting and use of a palm oil industry downstream mapping document that had not yet been formalised as a regulation, which contained commodities and technical specifications not recognised in the international classification system, yet was still used as a reference by officials,” he continued.
Syarief explained that another modus operandi involved facilitating CPO exports using inappropriate classifications to reduce export levy obligations. In this case, investigators also uncovered allegations of bribery from private parties to state officials.
He estimated that state financial losses arising from this case could reach Rp 14 trillion. The Kejagung is still conducting its calculations.
The following are the 11 individuals named as suspects:
- LHB, Head of the Sub-Directorate for Non-Food Plantation Industry Products and Functional Policy Analyst and Senior Expert Industrial Development Officer at the Directorate of Forest Product Industries, Ministry of Industry.
- FJR, Director of Customs Technical Affairs at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) (from 2024 to the present serving as Head of the DJBC Office for Bali, NTB and NTT).
- MZ, Head of the Counselling and Information Services Section at the Pekanbaru Customs Office.
- ES, Director of PT SMP, PT SMA and PT SMS.
- ERW, Director of PT BMM.
- FLX, President Director of PT AP and Head of Commerce at PT AP.
- RND, Director of PT TAJ.
- TNY, Director of PT TEO and Shareholder of PT Green Product International.
- VNR, Director of PT Surya Inti Primakarya.
- RBN, Director of PT CKK.
- YSR, President Director of PT MAS and Commissioner of PT SBP.