Wilmar’s Indonesian executive gets 6-year jail term, fine over bribing judges

However, the court did not find him guilty of money laundering. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SINGAPORE - Singapore-listed agribusiness Wilmar International said in an exchange filing on March 3 that its Indonesian unit’s head of social security legal has been handed a six-year jail term and a fine of 300 million rupiah (S$22,700).

The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Muhammad Syafei for bribing the judges who had earlier acquitted Wilmar subsidiaries of charges related to wrongfully obtaining export permits for oil products.

However, the court did not find him guilty of money laundering. The prosecution had sought 15 years’ imprisonment and a 600 million rupiah fine for the bribery and money laundering charges.

Wilmar shares fell sharply on the news, with the stock down 13 cents or 3.7 per cent to $3.37 as at 9.48am on March 4.

Last September, Wilmar was ordered to pay a fine of one billion rupiah, in addition to forfeiting 11.8 trillion rupiah to the Attorney-General’s Office.

The penalty stemmed from actions taken by five of its subsidiaries between July and December 2021 during Indonesia’s cooking oil crisis and domestic palm oil shortage in 2021 and 2022, as global palm oil prices surged. The companies were accused of illegally profiting from the evasion of state-imposed export controls on cooking oil and palm oil.