(April 13): Indonesia has detained the chief judge of the South Jakarta District Court and three other people in a bribery investigation related to a 2022 palm oil export corruption case that involved a unit of Wilmar International Ltd.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) on Saturday (April 12) identified the judge with initials MAN, as well as a court employee with initials WG and two lawyers MS and AR, as suspects in the bribery case, according to its statement. The prosecutors said they found evidence that the lawyers allegedly bribed the court head with 60 billion rupiah (US$3.57 million, or RM15.79 million) so that a panel of judges handling the palm oil corruption case issued a favourable verdict in March this year.

That panel determined that Wilmar Group, Musim Mas Group, and Permata Hijau Group did not commit a criminal act, the statement said.

“The suspects will be detained for the next 20 days,” AGO spokesperson Harli Siregar said.

The AGO said that it raided five locations in Jakarta on Friday and confiscated money in Chinese yuan, Singapore dollars, US dollars, Indonesian rupiah and Malaysian ringgit, as well as Mercedes Benz and Ferrari cars, among other evidence.

The 2022 case, which also involved a trade ministry official, revolved around the approval of export permits that didn’t meet requirements, and a failure to meet obligations at the time for domestic palm oil distribution.

Uploaded by Kang Siew Li