JAKARTA – The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) broke silence on three palm oil companies implicated in corruption cases. The association of oil palm growers feared that the cases will create a sense of anxiety and uncertainty in the palm oil industry.
GAPKI Chairman Eddy Martono said that implicating the tree companies in corruption cases will affect the investment climate in Indonesia’s palm oil industry. “We’re really concerned that our members implicated in the cases. How come they are implicated in the cases? They’ve complied with the government regulations, but why are they criminalized? If the cases persist, then it will disrupt investment climate,” Eddy told the press on Thursday, 20 July 2023.
Eddy reminded that the palm oil industry is the largest earner of foreign exchange income for Indonesia. Legal enforcement should be implemented carefully, so as not to affect the palm oil businesses which employ millions of workers and smallholders.
“All GAPKI members have complied with the government policies at the time the government flip-flopped on its regulations. If the cases continue, it means there is no legal certainty that will then cause unconducive condition for investment in the palm oil sector. Certainly, business players will be worried every time the government is capricious with its policies, as such condition will only end up blaming us in implementing the policies,” he said.
The attorney general office (Kejagung) has named three companies as suspects in the corruption cases of palm oil-based cooking oil in relation to the export facility of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and derivative products during the period of January 2021 – March 2022.
Kejagung Public Relations Head Ketut Sumedana said that the state loss caused by the cases, based on the supreme court’s appeal verdict, has been determined at Rp6.47 trillion.
Marcella Santoso, the lawyer of the companies, stated that legal accusations of corruption should be based on evidence resulted from the audit of the finance supervisory board (BPK). But in fact, the state loss accusation is only based on calculation of expert, and not of expert audit of BPK.
“The accusation of causing state loss according to article 2 verse 1 and article 3 of UU Tipikor (corruption law) must be proven by actual state loss, not potential or estimated state loss,” said Marcella.
Marcella noted that so far there has been no audit conducted by BPK regarding the previous cases and the new cases which involve companies as legal subjects.
“Based on the circular letter of the supreme court no.4/2016, only BPK is authorized to determine whether there is state loss or not. Even the BPKP (the finance and development supervisory board) has no rights to state whether there is a loss to the state,” Marcella said. (*)
Source: Suara.com
