Invited by Prabowo, Purbaya Presents Report on Companies Involved in Under-Invoicing
Jakarta — Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa brought a series of reports when he was invited to a luncheon with President Prabowo Subianto and several ministers at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Thursday, 21 May 2026.
Purbaya said that one of the reports he carried to the meeting was data on crude palm oil (CPO) companies that engaged in under-invoicing or export-import manipulation causing lower state revenue.
“There are several notes on CPO companies that engage in price manipulation,” Purbaya said.
“There are some large companies that clearly manipulate—for example, exports to the United States. The price here may be a quarter or a third of what it is in the US. Then the domestic reporting would show a loss, and revenue would be lower here,” he explained.
According to Purbaya, under-invoicing practices were also found in other commodity sectors beyond CPO.
“This is just CPO; coal will be involved later,” he said.
The data were disclosed by Prabowo during his speech at the 19th Plenary Meeting of the DPR RI concerning the Macro Economic Framework (KEM) and the Core Policy Principles (PPKF) for the 2027 RAPBN.
“Under invoicing is essentially fraud. What they sell by the businessmen is not reported as it actually is,” Prabowo said at the Nusantara Building of the DPR/MPR RI, Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday, 20 May 2026.
They then sell a domestic commodity to foreign companies at prices far below the actual price.
Prabowo said the manipulation can be carried out in Indonesia but cannot be done in other countries, so it would be monitored by the United Nations.
“We ship 10,000 tonnes of coal; we only report 5,000 tonnes. It is possible in Indonesia. There, it is not; there, it would be recorded,” Prabowo said.
“That is fraud on paper. There is also smuggling. There is more smuggling through ghost ports,” he added.
As a result of these practices, Indonesia loses wealth or incurs state losses amounting to USD 900 billion, equivalent to Rp 15,400 trillion.
“900 billion dollars have disappeared. Imagine if we had that 900 billion dollars to enjoy, what kind of country would Indonesia be?” Prabowo asked.