The scarcity of products and the increase in the price of cooking oil at that time became news that shocked all corners of the country in late 2021 until early 2022. Queues for cooking oil were everywhere, shopping places ran out of stock, and chaotic residents were jostling for cooking oil.
After going through inquiries and investigations, palm oil trade governance was once again the culprit. Large palm oil corporations are flocking to market their CPO products for export because they are considered more profitable. Several parties were also accused of corruption over the granting of the export permit.
The corruption case regarding crude palm oil export permits is a breakthrough made by the Attorney General’s Office in enforcing the law in corruption cases, especially related to corruption in natural resources with the involvement of corporate actors. In this case, one form of breakthrough in the prosecutor’s indictment was the application of the element of state economic loss which was much broader than state financial loss.
However, there are still a number of critical notes regarding the decision and indictment in this case. Starting from the implementation of corporate criminal liability which has not yet targeted groups, the narrow scale of cases being investigated, the confiscation of replacement money is not optimal, the government’s motives have not been explored, and other actors who should have been responsible for this case have not been involved.
