Judge: Customs DG Received Rp21 Billion in Bribes from Blueray Cargo Owner

The Panel of Judges at the Corruption Court in the Central Jakarta District Court stated that the Director General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance, Djaka Budhi Utama, received a portion of bribes totalling Rp21 billion from Blueray Cargo owner John Field. Judge Nofalinda Arianti explained that the bribes were given by John with the aim of ensuring that Customs would expedite the release of imported goods belonging to the Blueray Cargo Group from the supervisory process at the Customs section of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise. “The receipt by Djaka was carried out seven times in the form of Singapore dollars under the code BC1,” said Judge Nofalinda while reading out the legal considerations during the verdict hearing at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on Friday. In detail, Djaka received money from John amounting to Rp3 billion on each of the seven occasions, namely in July 2025, August 2025, September 2025, October 2025, November 2025, December 2025, and January 2026. In addition to receiving money from John, Judge Nofalinda stated that Djaka had also met with executives from 10 cargo companies that regularly import high-risk commodities, including John. However, it was noted that the meeting was conducted unofficially as it was held without the knowledge of internal compliance, was not reported to the Ministry of Finance, was not budgeted by the State Treasury Service Office in the Budget Implementation List, and was funded by irregular external collections received by Customs. “The panel of judges is of the opinion that these actions violate the code of ethics and behavioural guidelines for employees of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, which are highly likely to lead to corrupt, collusive, and nepotistic practices,” Nofalinda said. The bribes were given by John together with Blueray Cargo’s Port Custom Clearance Operational Manager Dedy Kurniawan and Blueray Cargo’s Head of the Importation Documentation Team, Andri. Consequently, John Field was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of Rp300 million, with a subsidiary of 100 days imprisonment. Dedy and Andri were each sentenced to one year and six months in prison and a fine of Rp200 million, with a subsidiary of 80 days imprisonment. Thus, the three defendants were found guilty of violating criminal provisions stipulated in Article 605 paragraph (1) letter a in conjunction with Article 20 letter c in conjunction with Article 126 paragraph (1) of the National Criminal Code in conjunction with Article VII number 48 of Law Number 1 of 2026 concerning Criminal Adjustments.