Indonesia arrests judge after palm oil companies cleared of graft charges

JAKARTA (Reuters) – The Indonesian Attorney General’s Office has arrested a chief judge of a local court on charges of bribery following the acquittal of three palm oil companies in a case related to corruption in obtaining export permits, an official said.

A court had last month acquitted the three companies – Wilmar Group, Musim Mas Group, and North Sumatra-based Permata Hijau Group – of charges of misconduct in obtaining export permits in 2022.

But Harli Siregar, the spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, said on Saturday that two lawyers of the companies had allegedly paid Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, chief judge of South Jakarta district court, 60 billion rupiah ($3.57 million) to arrange for a favourable verdict.

“The bribe was given so that the judges would rule that it’s not a crime,” Siregar told reporters, adding that a court clerk and two lawyers had also been apprehended along with the judge.

Reuters could not immediately reach Nuryanta or his lawyer for comment.

It was not immediately clear if charges would be pursued against the three companies. Wilmar Group, Musim Mas Group and Permata Hijau Group did not immediately respond to request for comments.

Nuryanta was the deputy chief of the court when the verdict came in. He did not hear the case directly.

When the corruption charges were first brought forward against the companies, prosecutors were seeking fines and payments up to 11 trillion rupiah. ($1 = 16,790.0000 rupiah)

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; editing by Gibran Peshimam and Raju Gopalakrishnan)