The Attorney General's Office has named 11 individuals as suspects in an alleged corruption case involving the export of crude palm oil (CPO) disguised as Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) from 2022 to 2024. The case is estimated to have caused state losses of up to Rp14.3 trillion. Suspects include officials from Customs and the Ministry of Industry.
The Attorney General's Office (Kejagung) has uncovered a case of CPO export manipulation classified as POME spanning 2022 to 2024. Preliminary estimates of state losses range from Rp10.6 trillion to Rp14.3 trillion, based on investigators' internal calculations regarding lost state revenue from these exports.
Director of Investigation at Jampidsus Kejagung, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that the figure is temporary and may evolve. "The investigation team estimates state financial losses and/or lost state revenue at Rp10.6 trillion to Rp14.3 trillion," he said on February 11, 2026.
On February 10, 2026, Kejagung named 11 suspects, including FJR, former Director of Technical Customs at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, now Head of DJBC Office in Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara. Additionally, LHB, as Deputy Head of Sub-Directorate for Non-Food Plantation Products Industry and Policy Analyst at the Directorate of Forest Products Industry in the Ministry of Industry, is involved. Other suspects come from private companies.
The modus operandi involved altering HS Codes to reclassify CPO as palm waste like PAO or POME, avoiding export duties. Investigators found indications of bribes to officials to facilitate the process. "There are 11 suspects named today," Syarief said.
All suspects are detained for 20 days at Rutan Salemba branches of the Attorney General's Office and the South Jakarta District Prosecutor's Office. The case originated from alleged corruption in 2022 exports and escalated to investigation in October 2022. The practice is said to disrupt CPO export controls and undermine national strategic commodity trade regulations.
