Former Customs Director Charged with Causing Rp7.3 Trillion State Loss in CPO Case

Fadjar Donny Tjahjadi, who served as Technical Director of Customs at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Finance from 2017 to 2024, has been charged with causing state losses of Rp7.37 trillion in connection with alleged corruption in the export of crude palm oil (CPO).

Public prosecutor Widya Sihombing from the Attorney General’s Office alleged that Fadjar, among other things, requested the preparation of an engineered CPO export scheme for the 2022-2024 period in which CPO and its derivative products were disguised as palm oil mill effluent (POME).

‘Lila Harsyah prepared and drafted the palm oil industry downstreaming roadmap at the request of Fadjar Donny through Sofyan Marhaban,’ the prosecutor said while reading the indictment at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday (18/8), as quoted from Antara.

The downstreaming roadmap was reportedly drafted by categorising liquid products, namely CPO with a free fatty acid (FFA) content above 20 percent, as palm acid oil or palm oil mill effluent (PAO/POME).

In addition to drafting the downstreaming roadmap, the prosecutor revealed that Fadjar, together with ten other defendants being tried simultaneously, is also alleged to have committed unlawful acts through laboratory testing of goods at the Customs laboratory and the diversion or alteration of Harmonised System (HS) codes at stages of the export process.

Unlawful acts were also allegedly committed by avoiding the requirement for export approval under the domestic market obligation (DMO) and by avoiding the high export levies and state charges on CPO and its derivative products.

The ten other defendants are Lila Harsyah Bakhtiar, a Functional Policy Analyst and Senior Industry Development Officer at the Directorate of Forest Product and Plantation Industries of the Ministry of Industry for the 2021-2024 period; Muhammad Zulfikar, Head of Customs and Excise Service Section VI at the Dumai Customs Supervision and Service Office Type Madya Pabean B in 2021; Edy Susanto, President Director of PT Sinar Mutiaranusa Palmindo; Tony, Director of PT Tanimas Edible Oil; Yusrin Husin, Director and owner of PT Kencana Permata Nusantara; Randy Tjahyadi Maliwarna, Director of PT Trimitra Agro Jaya; Van Ricardo, Director of PT Surya Inti Primakarya; Felix, Director and owner of PT Agrojaya Perdana; Erwin, Director of PT Bumi Mulia Makmur; and Robin, Director of PT Cakra Kaya Kreasi.

The prosecutor stated that the actions of the eleven defendants resulted in a discrepancy between the export levies and charges actually paid by private parties and the export levies and charges that should have been paid, thereby enriching the ten defendants other than Fadjar and fifteen other legal subjects.

‘Accordingly, a state loss has occurred, calculated based on the audit report on state financial loss calculation by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) Number PE.03.03/SR/S-401/D6/03/2026 dated 2 June 2026,’ the prosecutor said.

For their actions, the eleven individuals are charged with violating criminal provisions under Article 603 in conjunction with Article 20 letter a or letter c in conjunction with Article 3 paragraph (1) of the National Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 18 or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001 on the Eradication of Corruption.