Prosecutors and Defendants Appeal Verdicts in Judicial Bribery Case Involving Palm Oil Companies
JAKARTA — Both the Office of the Attorney General and the defence team have filed appeals against the sentencing in a high-profile case involving allegations of bribing judges to acquit three crude palm oil corporations.
The three defendants in this case are advocate Ariyanto Bakri, who is known on social media as Ary Gadun FM, and Marcella Santoso. Also charged is Muhammad Syafei, Head of Social Security Legal for Wilmar Group.
“The prosecution has appealed because the district court’s verdict did not satisfy several matters demanded by the prosecution,” said Riono Budisantoso, Director of Prosecution at the Attorney General’s Office, when contacted by Kompas.com on Tuesday, 10 March 2026.
The spokesperson for the Central Jakarta District Court, M Firman Akbar, confirmed that Marcella, as a defendant, also filed an appeal on Tuesday.
“The prosecution has appealed, and so have the defendants,” said Firman when confirmed on Tuesday evening.
Riono briefly alluded to the prosecution’s reasons for appealing the verdict handed down by the panel of judges. According to him, there were several prosecution demands that were not accommodated in the decision. Riono did not elaborate further on the specific points of appeal.
Meanwhile, one of the defendants, Syafei, commented on the reasons for filing an appeal.
“Syafei and his legal team filed an appeal due to the judges’ reasoning, which found Syafei guilty under Article 56 for aiding the commission of the crime of bribing judges. This reasoning is extremely cursory and does not align with the facts presented at trial,” said Syafei’s lawyer, Juniver Girsang, when contacted on Tuesday.
“Given that the reasoning states that Syafei did not hand over anything, there is no evidence, and there is no CCTV footage, there should be no basis for Syafei to be found guilty of aiding and abetting the commission of the crime of bribing judges,” Juniver explained.
Marcella and Ariyanto were both found guilty on two charges: bribery and money laundering.
Marcella was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with a fine of 600 million rupiah, alternatively 150 days imprisonment.
Ariyanto was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment with a fine of 600 million rupiah, alternatively 150 days imprisonment.