Agrinas Palma Nusantara Manages Duta Palma Group's Oil Palm Plantation

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The state-owned company, PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero), has been entrusted by the state through the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Indonesia to manage evidence from the corruption investigation case of PT Duta Palma, consisting of a palm oil plantation covering 221,868 hectares. This handover is expected to ensure the continuity of workers and the management of the palm oil plantation for national interests.

The handover of assets was formalized through the signing of a memorandum of evidence custody for palm oil plantation assets by the Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia, Burhanuddin, to the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), Erick Thohir, which was then forwarded to the President Director of PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara, Lieutenant General (retired) Agus Sutomo, at the Danareksa Tower, Jakarta, Monday (10/3/2025). The event was also witnessed by the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

"We, Agrinas Palma, express our gratitude to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Prabowo Subianto, and all state officials who have entrusted us with the responsibility to manage entrusted assets, following the retrieval of state assets entrusted to be managed by state-owned enterprises," said Agus.

Agrinas Palma Nusantara is known to be a transformation of a state-owned enterprise (BUMN) in the field of technical and management consultancy, previously named PT Indra Karya (Persero). According to its official website, the transformation in 2025 aims to focus its business on palm oil for renewable energy resilience.

Agus explained that they will work on managing oil palm plantations with the applicable Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil policy. On the assets they currently manage, they will make every 75,000 hectares of land a regional area.

Each regional area is guided by a regional head who oversees five general managers, 25 managers, 125 staff managers, and many other employees down to the farmer level.

"We will prioritize recruiting local residents as personnel, especially employees from Duta Palma, whom we have approached to join us. We will not terminate their employment (Duta Palma employees), and even the rights that should be the full responsibility of the previous company will be fully provided by us," he continued.

To support transparency in asset management, Agus explained, the company will create two accounts, namely a joint account and an escrow account (a fund holding account managed by a neutral third party). The joint account will hold all income from managing the oil palm plantation. They will submit it to the Attorney General for the company's needs in the field. Meanwhile, the escrow account will hold funds from net profit from operations.

"In essence, we will enhance productivity while simultaneously improving the welfare of the employees, as well as improving all aspects of life within the plantation. Therefore, the infrastructure, maintenance systems, equipment, and applicable SOPs will be managed transparently, so that everyone can observe and monitor. We are truly committed to doing our best, helping the country and the people," he stated.

Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) of the Attorney General's Office, Febrie Adriansyah, explained in a press conference that the oil palm plantations with a total area of 221,868.421 hectares that they handed over came from 37 plots of land.

The plantation area comes from nine corporations under Duta Palma Group, with seven plots of land covering 43,824 hectares in Riau and 21 plots of land covering 137,626 hectares spread across West Kalimantan. The remaining land comes from two subsidiaries that are still under investigation.

This plantation area is the result of verification by the Forest Area Control Task Force Team (Satgas PKH), following the direction of Presidential Regulation Number 5 of 2025 concerning Forest Area Control. The Attorney General's Office itself is still processing the Duta Palma Group case for the opening and management of oil palm plantations without a forest area release permit from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and without a right to cultivate from the National Land Agency (BPN).

"There are limitations to the prosecutor's office in managing the evidence. The interests are not only components of our evidence, but the business that is being run must continue to run. Here there is a lot of labor, there is potential for plantations that must be maintained, and here there are also contracts of rights and obligations in business qualifications that must not be interrupted," he explained.

BUMN is considered to have the capacity to carry out operations and optimize plantation productivity in order to maintain economic sustainability, especially for local communities. The handover of palm oil plantation management to BUMN, which has been proposed since the beginning of the case handling in 2022, is also expected to avoid unwanted social conflicts until the legal process is complete.

"The commitment to maintain transparency and accountability in the management of oil palm plantations, we ask that it will be managed openly, with financial control that can also be assisted by colleagues at BPKP (Financial and Development Supervisory Agency)," he continued.