Indonesian judges who cleared three palm oil companies of corruption charges arrested

Indonesia has arrested three judges who cleared a trio of oil companies of charges related to the illegal export of crude palm oil.

Wilmar Group, Musim Mas Group and Permata Hijau Group were acquitted last month by a Jakarta anti-corruption court of engaging in misconduct to obtain export permits in 2022.

On Sunday night, the attorney general’s office arrested the three judges who made the ruling, Reuters reported.

“After questioning seven witnesses, we gathered sufficient evidence to name the three judges as suspects,” Abdul Qohar, director of investigations at the office, told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.

Authorities alleged that lawyers for the oil companies paid chief judge Muhammad Arif Nuryanta of the South Jakarta district court 60bn rupiah (£2.6m) to arrange for a favourable verdict.

The chief judge, in turn, paid over £756000 to the three other judges of the anti-corruption who delivered the ruling.

“The bribe was given so that the judges would rule that it's not a crime," Harli Siregar, spokesperson for the attorney general's office, told Reuters.

A court clerk and two lawyers have also been arrested in the case that has rocked the judiciary in the world’s largest palm oil producer.

Mr Nuryanta, who was deputy chief of the court when the ruling was made but did not hear the case directly, had been arrested earlier.

“They were fully aware that the payments were intended to secure a favorable ruling,” Mr Qohar said of the arrested judges, according to Jakarta Globe.

The judges stand to be suspended and fired if found guilty.

“We believe that we are not guilty of the charges as our actions during that period to increase the supply of palm oil to the market, despite the additional cost incurred, was intended to help the government improve domestic supplies and reduce prices,” Wilmar said on Monday.

The attorney general’s office started its investigation after the anti-corruption court delivered a controversial ruling on 19 March.

While the court found the three companies had exported palm oil without necessary permits, it acquitted them saying that their actions did not fall under criminal law.

Indonesia had imposed export restrictions to rein in soaring prices of local cooking oil in 2022.

Prosecutors had asked the court to impose heavy fines to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds on the oil companies.