There is "Hengki Pengki" Behind the Acquittal Verdict of Three Judges in CPO Export Case

Three judges have been named as suspects in a bribery or gratuity case related to case management at the Central Jakarta District Court. They are Djuyamto, Agam Syarif Baharuddin, and Ali Muhtarom, who served as the panel of judges in a corruption case involving the granting of crude palm oil (CPO) export facilities with a corporate defendant.

Early Monday morning (14/4/2025), the three judges exited one by one from the Kartika Adhyaksa Tower building within the Attorney General's Office Complex. Wearing pink vests, handcuffed, and masked, they entered the special detention vehicle of the Attorney General's Office that was already waiting in the building's lobby.

Although the three of them left almost simultaneously, they arrived at the Attorney General's Office at different times. Agam Syarif Baharuddin and Ali Muhtarom had been examined at the Attorney General's Office since Sunday morning (13/4/2025). Meanwhile, Djuyamto followed in the evening on Sunday.

"They did not come voluntarily, but were picked up by investigators. I believe none of the three were uncooperative because when the investigators arrived to pick them up, they immediately went to the Prosecutor's Office," said the Director of Investigations at the Attorney General's Office's Special Crimes Division, Abdul Qohar.

Previously, on Saturday (12/4/2025), investigators from the Attorney General's Office named four suspects in a case of alleged bribery or gratification related to case management at the Central Jakarta District Court. They are the Chief Judge of the South Jakarta District Court, Muhammad Arif Nuryanta; Wahyu Gunawan, who serves as the Junior Civil Registrar of the North Jakarta District Court and was previously assigned to the Central Jakarta District Court; Marcella Santoso, a legal representative of the company; and Aryanto Bakri, also a legal representative of the company.

They were named as suspects after investigators found evidence indicating bribery or gratuities amounting to Rp 60 billion. The money was used to ensure that the court's ruling in the corruption case regarding the provision of crude palm oil export facilities aligned with the requests of the suspects, namely the cooking oil corporations. The corporate suspects in the case are Permata Hijau Group, Wilmar Group, and Musim Mas Group.

The disclosure of bribery or gratuity cases at the Central Jakarta District Court involving four judges adds to the growing list of "under-the-table dealings" in case management within the judiciary. Such dealings typically occur between the party being tried, usually through their legal counsel, and the presiding judges. The modus operandi involves the defendant's legal counsel offering a sum of money to the judges in order to ensure that the verdict issued aligns with their desired outcome.

Such a modus operandi is evident in the alleged bribery case involving three judges of the Surabaya District Court who presided over Ronald Tannur's trial. During the ongoing hearing at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court, it was revealed that the three Surabaya District Court judges had received a sum of money from Ronald Tannur's lawyer. The money was given as a reward to ensure the judges imposed a sentence in line with the defendant's wishes. As a result, the three judges acquitted Ronald Tannur.

In the case of bribery or gratification in the handling of the CPO export corruption case at the Central Jakarta District Court, Hengki Pengki even took place before the trial began.

Qohar revealed that the bribery or gratification allegedly started from an agreement between Aryanto, the lawyer for the suspect cooking oil corporation, and Wahyu Gunawan, a clerk who was then on duty at the Central Jakarta District Court. Through Wahyu Gunawan, Aryanto asked Arif Nuryanta to take care of the case of three cooking oil corporations that were still suspects in the corruption case of providing crude palm oil export facilities for the period January 2022 to April 2022.

"The request is that the case will be decided on an onslag basis by preparing Rp 20 billion," said Qohar.

Then, the agreement was conveyed by Wahyu Gunawan to Arif Nuryanta who at that time served as Deputy Chairman of the Central Jakarta District Court, including a request that the case be decided onslag or released. Arif Nuryanta then agreed to Aryanto's request. However, he asked that the money prepared be multiplied by 3, namely to Rp 60 billion.

Wahyu conveyed Arif Nuryanta's request to Aryanto and was immediately accepted. Aryanto then handed over Rp 60 billion to Wahyu Gunawan in the form of US dollars.

Arif Nuryanta then agreed to Aryanto's request. However, he asked that the money prepared be multiplied by 3, namely to become Rp 60 billion.

At that time, Wahyu Gunawan was given by Arif Nuryanta 50,000 US dollars as a liaison service. Wahyu Gunawan was Arif Nuryanta's confidant.

"So, Wahyu Gunawan also got a share after the money was handed over," explained Qohar.

After receiving money equivalent to Rp 60 billion, Arif Nuryanta then appointed a panel of judges who would handle the corruption case of granting crude palm oil export facilities. They are Djuyamto as Chairman of the Panel, Ali Muhtarom as ad hoc judge, and Agam Syarif Baharuddin as member judge.

After the court ruling was issued, Arif Nuryanta summoned Djuyamto and Agam Syarif Baharuddin and gave them an amount of money equivalent to Rp 4.5 billion. Arif Nuryanta said the money was money to read the case files and asked for the case to be given attention.

The Rp 4.5 billion was put into a goodie bag prepared by Agam Syarif Baharuddin. Then, the money was distributed to the three judges handling the case.

Around September or October 2024, Arif Nuryanta again gave money in US dollars to Djuyamto worth Rp 18 billion. By Djuyamto, the money was distributed to Ali Muhtarom and Agam Syarif Baharuddin in front of Bank BRI Pasar Baru, South Jakarta.

In detail, Agam Syarif Baharuddin received the equivalent of Rp 4.5 billion, Ali Muhtarom received Rp 5 billion, and Djuyamto received the equivalent of Rp 6 billion. Of Djuyamto's share of the money, Rp 300 million of it was given to the clerk.

"So, the total received (by the three judges) was around Rp 22 billion. The three judges knew the purpose of receiving the money so that the case would be decided as Onslag and on March 19, 2025 the case was decided as Onslag," explained Qohar.

The verdict was contrary to the prosecutor's demands, which demanded that the panel of judges decide that three corporate groups were proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing corruption together. In addition, the prosecutor also demanded that the corporate defendants pay compensation.

The defendant Permata Hijau Group was demanded to pay compensation of Rp 937.5 billion. The defendant Wilmar Group was demanded to pay compensation for the state's economic losses of Rp 11.8 trillion. The defendant Musim Mas Group was required to pay compensation for the state's economic losses of Rp 4.8 trillion.

The three suspects were charged with Article 12 letter c in conjunction with Article 12 B in conjunction with Article 6 Paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 18 in conjunction with the Law on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) ke-1 of the Criminal Code. The three were immediately detained at the Attorney General's Office Detention Center for the next 20 days.

Qohar confirmed that there was still money left after being distributed by Arif Nuryanta to the judges and clerks. If converted into rupiah, there is still around Rp 38 billion held by Arif Nuryanta.

"Where is the rest? This is what we are still developing. Is there any remaining that has been shared with other people or is it all controlled or under the control of the person concerned, namely the suspect Muhammad Arif Nuryanta," said Qohar.

In addition, Qohar said, his party is still investigating the source of the Rp 60 billion. Qohar has not been able to confirm whether each of the corporate defendants bears the same or different amounts. One legal fact that has been revealed so far is that the Rp 60 billion was given by Aryanto and received by Wahyu Gunawan.

"This is what will be in the development process because it has only been 2 days. What is certain is that we will convey all the factual data that we obtain later in the development of this case," said Qohar.

Head of the Attorney General's Office's Legal Information Center Harli Siregar added that investigators are still conducting searches and confiscating evidence suspected of being related to the bribery or gratification case. On Sunday (13/4/2025), investigators confiscated a number of money and vehicles from several locations in Central Java, West Java, and the Special Region of Jakarta.

"Because we know that corruption is an extraordinary crime. I think the methods used are also extraordinary," said Harli.