Billions of Rupiah to Luxury Cars Behind the Arrest of the Head of the South Jakarta District Court

The Chief of the South Jakarta District Court, Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, has been implicated in a case involving the provision of export facilities for crude palm oil (CPO) from January 2022 to April 2022, with the defendant being a corporation. Allegedly, a sum of Rp 60 billion flowed into the pockets of the former Deputy Chief of the Central Jakarta District Court.

Muhammad Arif Nuryanta was named a suspect in alleged bribery or gratuities related to a case at the Central Jakarta District Court on Saturday (12/4/2025). In addition to Arif, three other individuals were named as suspects: Wahyu Gunawan, who served as the Junior Civil Registrar at the North Jakarta District Court and was previously assigned to the Central Jakarta District Court; Marcella Santoso, the legal representative of the company; and Aryanto, also the legal representative of the company.

Since Friday morning (11/4/2025), investigators from the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes at the Attorney General's Office conducted simultaneous searches at five locations in the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, including the homes of Wahyu Gunawan, Aryanto, and Arif. The searches were carried out following the issuance of the Investigation Order (sprindik) on the same day.

At the five locations, investigators discovered and confiscated several documents, money in various denominations, and a car. From Arif's house, investigators seized money in denominations of Singapore dollars, US dollars, and Malaysian ringgit. An envelope containing 65,000 Singapore dollars was found in a bag confiscated from Arif's house. Another envelope containing 7,200 US dollars was also discovered.

At Wahyu's residence, investigators confiscated money in denominations of Singapore dollars, US dollars, yuan, and rupiah. Specifically, 40,000 Singapore dollars, 5,700 US dollars, 200 yuan, and Rp 10.8 million.

Meanwhile, at AR's residence, investigators confiscated cash amounting to Rp 136.95 million. Investigators also seized four vehicles, three of which are luxury cars, namely Ferrari Spider, Nissan GT-R, and Mercedes Benz.

Investigators suspect that these items are related to alleged bribery or gratuities in connection with case handling at the Central Jakarta District Court. Without delay, investigators immediately brought several witnesses to the Attorney General's Office for questioning regarding the alleged management of corruption cases involving the provision of export facilities for crude palm oil (CPO) from January 2022 to April 2022.

They are the four people who were later named as suspects as well as DDP as Aryanto's wife, IIN and BS as Arif's personal drivers, and five Marcella staff who work at the Ariyanto Arnaldo Law Firm office. They are BHQ, ZUL, YSF, AS, and VRL.

Investigators then conducted a marathon examination from Friday (11/4/2025) to Saturday (12/4/2025) night. After conducting examinations of the witnesses, investigators obtained sufficient evidence of the occurrence of criminal acts of bribery and/or gratification in handling cases at the Central Jakarta District Court.

"Investigators found facts and evidence that WG, MS and AR committed acts of giving bribes and/or gratuities to MAN amounting to IDR 60 billion in order to process the verdict of the case in question so that the panel of judges would issue a verdict of ontslag van alle recht vervolging," said Director of Investigation Abdul Qohar, on Saturday (12/4/2025) evening.

After being named as suspects, the four suspects were immediately detained by investigators. Arif and Marcella were detained at the Attorney General's Office State Detention Center, Wahyu was detained at the KPK Detention Center, and Aryanto was detained at the South Jakarta District Attorney's Office Detention Center.

On March 19, 2025, the panel of judges at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court issued a verdict of ontslag van alle recht vervolging in the case of granting export facilities for crude palm oil or CPO from January 2022 to April 2022. This means that the defendants were proven to have committed the acts charged, but the acts did not constitute a criminal act.

The verdict is stated in Decision Number 39/Pid.Sus-TPK/2025/PN.Jkt.Pst, Number 40/Pid.Sus-TPK/2024/PN Jkt.Pst, and Number 41/Pid. Sus-TPK/2025/PN.Jkt.Pst. The defendants are three corporate groups, namely Permata Hijau Group, Wilmar Group, and Musim Mas Group. The panel of judges in the case consisted of Djuyamto as Chief Judge accompanied by Agam Syarief Baharudin and Ali Muhtarom as members.

The verdict is contrary to the demands of the public prosecutor who 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. While the defendant Musim Mas Group was to pay compensation for the state's economic losses of Rp 4.8 trillion.

The corruption case that dragged the three corporate groups is a continuation of the same case that ensnared five suspects in court. They are former Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Parulian Tumanggor, Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs of Permata Hijau Group (PHG) Stanley MA, General Manager of General Affairs of PT Musim Mas Picare Togare Sitanggang, and Lin Che Wei who is a consultant at the Ministry of Trade.

In that case, the AGO had questioned the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs at that time, namely Airlangga Hartarto, regarding the policies taken when there was a shortage of cooking oil in early 2022. In addition to Airlangga, investigators also questioned former Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi twice for the same case.

According to Qohar, Arif's involvement in the case occurred when he served as Deputy Chairman of the Central Jakarta District Court. The bribe money for handling the case amounting to Rp 60 billion was given through Wahyu, who was Arif's confidant.

"It was through him that the agreement was made. And then three panels of judges were appointed. Whether the three panels of judges received (the money) or not, this is what we are currently investigating. But what is certain is that the decision is in accordance with what was requested," said Qohar.

Head of the Attorney General's Office's Legal Information Center Harli Siregar confirmed that on Sunday (13/4/2025) in the early hours of the morning, Djuyamto, who is the Chief Judge in the corporate corruption case, came to the Attorney General's Office. However, his arrival was not informed to investigators so that the person concerned was not examined as a witness.

However, Harli said, investigators have prepared themselves to ask for information from Djuyamto if Djuyamto comes to the AGO today. Meanwhile, two member judges in the case, namely Agam Syarif Baharuddin and Ali Muhtarom are undergoing examination at the AGO. This case is also certain to continue to develop.