CPO Export Manipulation Case: Losses Soar to IDR 14 Trillion

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) estimates state financial losses in cases of alleged corruption in irregularities in export activities crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivative products reach IDR 10 trillion to IDR 14 trillion.

This value is still temporary and does not cover the potential loss to the country’s economy as a whole.

The Deputy Attorney General’s Director of Investigation for Special Crimes (Dirdik Jampidsus), Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, said the estimate was based on the results of initial calculations by the AGO’s internal auditor team.

“Based on preliminary calculations by our auditors, state financial losses or loss of state revenue are estimated to reach between IDR 10 trillion and IDR 14 trillion,” said Syarief in a press conference at the AGO Building, Jakarta, Tuesday (10/2/2026) evening.

Also read: Maize Dismantles CPO Modus Disguised as POME Waste in order to Escape Export Regulations

Syarief emphasized that this figure will still increase due to official calculations state losses currently still ongoing.

Apart from that, investigators are also calculating the potential losses to the country’s economy due to this practice.

Case of CPO export irregularities

This case relates to alleged irregularities in CPO export activities from 2022 to 2024.

In the 2020-2024 period, the government implemented a policy of limiting and controlling CPO exports through the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) mechanism to maintain the availability of cooking oil and price stability in the country.

In this policy, CPO is designated as a national strategic commodity with customs classification using a specific HS Code.

Also read: Appearance of 11 suspects in the case of manipulating CPO exports into POME when they were taken to a detention car

However, investigators discovered that there was a fabrication in the classification of export commodities, where CPO with high acid content was claimed to be palm oil mill effluent (POME) or other residue products with different HS Codes.

“The purpose of this classification engineering is to avoid CPO export controls, so that commodities which are essentially CPO can be exported as if they were not CPO and are freed or reduced from obligations set by the state,” explained Syarief.

As a result of this manipulation, the obligation to pay export duties and palm oil levies that should have been received by the state became much lower.

Investigators also found allegations of kickback or giving rewards to unscrupulous state officials to pass administrative and export control processes.

According to the AGO, these actions had broad and systemic impacts, starting from loss of state revenue, ineffective CPO control policies, to disruption of national strategic commodity governance and the sense of justice in society.

Also read: Attorney General Names 11 Suspects in CPO Export Engineering Case, There Are Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Customs

In this case, the Attorney General’s Office has named 11 suspects consisting of three state officials and eight private parties.

The suspects are suspected of violating Article 603 in conjunction with Article 20 letters a or c of Law Number 1 of 2023, as well as subsidiary Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes.

For investigation purposes, all suspects will be detained for the next 20 days at the Salemba Branch Detention Center attorney General’s Office and the Salemba Detention Center, South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office Branch.

KOMPAS.com is committed to providing clear, trustworthy and balanced facts. Support the sustainability of clear journalism and enjoy reading comfort without advertising through Membership. Join KOMPAS.com Plus now