JAKARTA: The Jakarta Corruption Court has found a former executive and two lawyers linked to palm oil giant Wilmar Group guilty of bribing judges to clear three palm oil companies in a high-profile corruption case involving crude palm oil (CPO) export permits.
A three-judge panel led by Presiding Judge Efendi handed down the verdicts on Tuesday (March 3), sentencing Wilmar’s former legal head Muhammad Syafei and its lawyers Marcella Santoso and Ariyanto Bakri to six, 14 and 16 years in prison, respectively.
Syafei was found guilty of coordinating with Marcella and Ariyanto to bribe three judges, a court clerk and a former court official at the Jakarta Corruption Court with US$4 million to secure acquittals for Wilmar Group, Musim Mas Group and Permata Hijau Group.
In March last year, the companies were cleared of all charges in a case concerning illegal permits for exporting CPO and its derivatives in 2022, when the government imposed strict shipment restrictions.
The court sentenced him to six years in prison and a Rp 300 million (US$17,700) fine, significantly lighter than the 15-year prison term and Rp 600 million fine sought by prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), as the panel did not find Syafei guilty of money laundering.
Meanwhile, the court ruled that Marcella and Ariyanto committed money laundering by setting aside US$2 million from the illicit funds.
Judges found that the pair deposited the money into personal bank accounts, purchased five cars and a boat, and later established a company to register the assets.
Marcella was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay a Rp 600 million fine and Rp 16.2 billion in restitution. Ariyanto received the same fine and restitution but a heavier 16-year prison sentence, as judges described him as the main orchestrator of the bribery scheme.
The case has drawn sustained public attention, particularly after the AGO seized Rp 11.8 trillion from Wilmar Group in June last year.
Scrutiny intensified further after three judges at the Central Jakarta District Court, namely Agam Syarief Baharudin, Ali Muhtarom and Djuyamto, were sentenced to 11 years in prison in December for accepting bribes in exchange for the acquittal.
In Tuesday’s ruling, the panel urged AGO prosecutors to pursue further investigations, including probing the beneficial owners of the three palm oil companies.
“Prosecutors should rightly bring this case to a close by pursuing legal action against the beneficial owners [...] so that all parties responsible for this bribery case can be fully exposed,” Judge Andi Saputra said, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Criminal law expert Abdul Fickar Hajar of Trisakti University echoed the call, arguing that responsibility likely extended beyond corporate legal officers.
“Without instructions or approval from company management or owners, a legal officer would not have the authority to arrange bribes of this scale,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. AGO spokesperson Anang Supriatna did not respond to the Post’s request for comment. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
