Three Judges Who Acquitted CPO Export Case Detained, Suspected of Accepting Rp 22.5 Billion in Bribes

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - After detaining the Chairman of the South Jakarta District Court, Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, the Attorney General's Office has named three judges who presided over the corruption case involving the provision of crude palm oil (CPO) export facilities as suspects in alleged bribery or gratification related to case management at the Central Jakarta District Court. The three are suspected of having benefited from Rp 60 billion provided by three palm oil corporations as compensation for acquittal verdicts, freeing the defendants from all criminal charges. It is estimated that the total amount received by the three judges amounted to Rp 22.5 billion.

The designation of three suspects was announced by the Director of Investigation of the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes at the Attorney General's Office, Abdul Qohar, during a press conference at the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta, early Monday morning (14/4/2025). The three suspects were previously interrogated in a marathon session on Sunday (13/4/2025) as witnesses along with four other individuals.

The three suspects are judges who handled the corruption case of granting crude palm oil export facilities for the period January 2022 to April 2022 with corporate defendants at the Jakarta Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court (PN). They are Djuyamto who sits as chief judge, Agam Syarif Baharuddin as member judge, and Ali Muhtarom as ad hoc judge.

Qohar revealed that the three individuals also received money provided by the corporate defendants. The three corporations involved in the case were alleged to have given a total of Rp 60 billion in denominations of US dollars and Singapore dollars to Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, who at the time served as Deputy Chair of the Central Jakarta District Court.

"The three judges knew the purpose of receiving the money so that the case would be decided without prejudice and this became apparent when on March 19, 2025, the cooking oil corporation case was decided without prejudice by the panel of judges," said Qohar.

With the designation of three new suspects, the total number of suspects in the bribery case involving case management at the Central Jakarta District Court has now reached seven individuals. Previously, on Saturday (12/4/2025), investigators from the Attorney General's Office named four suspects, one of whom is Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, currently serving as the Chief Judge of the South Jakarta District Court. The other three are Wahyu Gunawan, who serves as the Junior Civil Registrar at the North Jakarta District Court and was previously assigned to the Central Jakarta District Court, as well as Marcella Santoso and Aryanto, who are legal representatives of the company.

They were named suspects after investigators found evidence in the form of bribes or gratuities amounting to Rp 60 billion to Arif. The money was given by Aryanto through Wahyu Gunawan for handling a corruption case involving the provision of export facilities for crude palm oil during the period of January 2022 to April 2022, with the defendant being a corporation.

Qohar revealed that the three judges designated as suspects were allegedly receiving money from Arif Nuryanta, who at the time served as Deputy Chair of the Central Jakarta District Court. The money was first received prior to the trial of the corruption case concerning the provision of crude palm oil export facilities.

At that time, after the issuance of the court session decree, Arif Nuryanta summoned Djuyamto and Agam to hand over US dollar bills equivalent to IDR 4.5 billion. "Muhammad Arif Nuryanta conveyed to these two individuals that the case should be given attention," explained Qohar.

Then in October or November 2024, Arif again gave money in US dollars worth Rp 18 billion to Djuyamto. By Djuyamto, the money was then distributed to the panel of judges in different amounts. Djuyamto received Rp 6 billion, Agam Rp 4.5 billion, and Ali Muhtarom Rp 5 billion.

The three suspects were charged with Article 12 letter c in conjunction with Article 12B, in conjunction with Article 6 paragraph 2, in conjunction with Article 18 of 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 by investigators at the Attorney General's Office detention center for the next 20 days.

Not only for the three judges, Muhammad Arif Nuryanta also gave money to Wahyu Gunawan amounting to 50,000 US dollars. The money was as a fee as a liaison.

Not only did they name the suspect, investigators also searched a number of places in Jepara, Central Java; Sukabumi, West Java; and the Special Region of Jakarta. On Sunday, (13/4/2025), investigators again confiscated evidence in the form of money and vehicles.

Investigators also confiscated 40 Singapore dollar 100 denomination notes and 125 US dollar 100 denomination notes found during a search of Arif Nuryanta's house in Tegal, Central Java.

Then, at Aryanto's house in East Jakarta, investigators confiscated evidence in the form of 10 Singapore dollar bills in 100 denominations and 74 Singapore dollar bills in 50 denominations. Still from the same place, investigators confiscated three cars, namely one Toyota Land Cruiser and two Land Rovers; 21 (twenty-one) motorcycles; and seven bicycles.

From Ali Muhtarom's house in Jepara, investigators confiscated 36,000 US dollars and a Fortuner car. Meanwhile, from the office of suspect Marcella Santoso, investigators confiscated 4,700 Singapore dollars. Meanwhile, from suspect Agam, investigators confiscated Rp 616.2 million in cash.

"Today's confiscation is a continuation of the confiscation that was carried out several days ago. If earlier there were 3 cars that were confiscated, previously there were 4 cars," said Harli.