Purbaya Has Reported to Prabowo; 10 Palm-Oil Exporters Cheat via Under-Invoicing

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa disclosed President Prabowo Subianto’s response after receiving a report on ten large companies involved in invoice manipulation, or under-invoicing, in the crude palm oil sector.

Purbaya delivered the report during a restricted meeting with Prabowo at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, 21 May 2026, alongside several ministers.

‘The report—basically, it reinforces the president’s long-held suspicion that such practices exist, and the data are very strong,’ Purbaya said when asked about the president’s reaction.

Purbaya said that the government’s current crackdown on palm oil governance would have a positive impact on tax revenues from exports. It would also affect the companies’ valuations.

‘That will affect the value of the company because previously the owners could manipulate it; now they cannot; the export will go into that company,’ he said.

Furthermore, according to Purbaya, he and the Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung) and the Supreme Audit Board (BPKP) are recalculating the export values of the ten under-invoicing violators over the past several years.

‘If now the losses are that large, that means this practice has been normal. We are awaiting the report, but the team has been working for 2-3 months,’ he said. Although Purbaya declined to comment on possible sanctions for those manipulating trade data.

Before the meeting, Purbaya said he had brought the report on ten large companies that engaged in under-invoicing prior to the meeting. He showed journalists the folder he had prepared, explaining that his team had conducted random checks on three shipments among the ten companies. The companies operate in the palm oil sector (CPO — crude palm oil).

‘They clearly appear to be manipulating export prices to the United States (while reading the documents). It is quite significant,’ Purbaya noted.

He explained that the recorded export prices were lower than the prices paid by importers in the United States.

‘So what is the price here? It is only a quarter or a third of what it is in the US. So the income is low, which means I suffer a lot,’ he said.

Purbaya declined to name the ten companies. However, he again pointed out that one company recorded export prices of US$2.6 million while importers paid US$4.2 million in the US. ‘That’s a 57% difference,’ he said.

‘There is an even more outrageous case: another company exported US$1.44 million here, but imported US$4 million there in the US. The price changed by 200%; we plan to detect ship-by-ship, so that is what I reported if asked,’ he said.