South Jakarta District Court Chief Arrested, Suspected of Accepting Rp 60 Billion Bribe in CPO Export Case

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Chief Judge of the South Jakarta High Court, Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, also known as MAN, has been arrested and is suspected of receiving a bribe of Rp 60 billion related to the handling of a corruption case involving crude palm oil (CPO) exports for three major companies. The former Chief Judge of the Central Jakarta District Court is alleged to have orchestrated the acquittal of the three corporations implicated in the bribery case from the charges brought by the public prosecutor, or oslagt. Arif Nuryanta is now being detained by the Attorney General's Office.

Three other suspects besides Arif Nuryanta are MS, AR, and WG. MS and AR are lawyers for the defendants involved in the corruption case of crude palm oil (CPO) exports, while WG is a junior civil clerk at the North Jakarta District Court (PN). The bribery case is suspected to have taken place in the handling of cases at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court (PN).

"This is suspected to be related to the case management of corruption crimes in granting export facilities for CPO and its derivatives in the palm oil industry during January-April 2022 under the name of the corporate defendant," said the Director of the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes at the Attorney General's Office, Abdul Qohar, at the Attorney General's Office, Saturday night (12/4/2025).

There are three corporate groups that became defendants, namely Permata Hijau Group, Wilmar Group, and Musim Mas Group. All three received an acquittal verdict issued by the Central Jakarta District Court on March 19, 2025. Through this verdict, the corporate defendants were deemed proven to have committed the alleged actions, but those actions were considered not criminal.

Initially, in the case of CPO exports, the public prosecutor filed a criminal fine of Rp 1 billion for each corporate defendant. However, the additional criminal charges varied. Permata Hijau Group was demanded to pay restitution of Rp 937.558 billion, Wilmar Group Rp 11.88 trillion, while Musim Mas Group Rp 4.89 trillion.

Regarding the acquittal decision, Qohar explained that the investigation team uncovered evidence of an attempt to bribe MAN, the judge presiding over the case, with a sum of Rp 60 billion. The individuals who offered the bribe were MS and AR, who served as lawyers for the corporate defendants.

When the corruption case regarding the provision of export facilities for CPO was tried at the Jakarta Corruption Court, Arif Nuryanta served as the Deputy Chair of the Central Jakarta District Court. The Jakarta Corruption Court operates under the Central Jakarta District Court.

"This provision is in the context of managing the case so that the panel of judges who hear the case will give an onslagt (free decision)," said Qohar.

The bribe, said Qohar, was given through WG, who at that time was a clerk at the Central Jakarta District Court. Incidentally, WG was a trusted person of Arif Nuryanto. After the bribe was received, Arif Nuryanto appointed three panels of judges who made it possible to issue the acquittal verdict.

"Whether or not the three panels of judges get this is what we are investigating. But, what is certain is that the decision is in accordance with what was requested," said Qohar.

Moreover, Qohar continued, the other panel of judges who decided the case were also not in Jakarta. Therefore, his team was picking up the panel of judges so they could be questioned immediately.

In that case, the Attorney General's Office confiscated a number of pieces of evidence in the form of money and vehicles. In WG's house, the items confiscated included 40,000 Singapore dollars, 5,700 US dollars, 200 Yuan, and Rp 10.8 million. In WG's car, 3,400 Singapore dollars, 600 US dollars and Rp 11.1 million were also found.

Then, from AR's house, the confiscated goods were in the form of money amounting to Rp 136.95 million. In addition, there were four cars as other confiscated goods. Three of the cars are classified as luxury cars, namely Ferarri Spider, Nissan GT-R, and Mercedes Benz.

Another confiscation was a bag belonging to Arif Nuryanto. In the bag, there was a brown envelope containing 65,000 Singapore dollars, consisting of 1,000 Singapore dollars. There was also an envelope containing 7,200 US dollars, consisting of 100 US dollars. There was another black wallet containing hundreds of bills consisting of Singapore dollars, rupiah, and ringgit.

Meanwhile, Head of the Attorney General's Office's Legal Information Center Harli Siregar explained that the alleged bribery case emerged from the development of another case related to corruption and gratification at the Surabaya District Court. When examining electronic evidence, indications of violations were detected that pointed to the bribery case at the Central Jakarta District Court.

"When handling the case, in Surabaya, there was information about that. About the name MS from electronic evidence," said Harli.