District judge’s arrest for graft revives old political drama

The arrest of a Jakarta district judge has sparked public outcry and spotlighted the long-standing decay of institutional trust in the judiciary. On April 11, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) apprehended South Jakarta District Court head Muhammad Arif Nuryanta on allegations that he had accepted Rp 60 billion (US$3.5 million) in bribes in exchange for a favorable ruling for three defendants in the 2022 graft case related to crude palm oil (CPO) export permits.

The defendants in the case are three major CPO players, Wilmar Group, Musim Mas Group, and Permata Hijau Group, which have been accused of prioritizing exports over domestic distribution that resulted in domestic supply shortages and up to Rp 20 trillion in state losses.

Along with Arif, three Jakarta Corruption Court judges and two corporate lawyers were arrested for their alleged roles in the elaborate bribery scheme.

The corruption court judges handed down a guilty verdict to the three defendants in a March 19 hearing but concluded that their actions did not constitute criminal offenses, citing a colonial-era legal provision known as Ontslag van alle Rechtsvervolging, which allows for the release of all legal charges without further prosecution when an act, though proven, is deemed noncriminal. The judicial panel ruled that the defendants were merely abiding by the country’s trade regulations at the time, even though these regulations had been proven to be the product of corruption in a prior trial.

With corruption scandals now seeming to appear with unsettling regularity, the AGO has maintained a consistent presence in the pursuit of legal accountability. Aside from the 2022 CPO bribery scandal, its prosecutors have been active in urging law enforcement to continue their investigations into the graft case pertaining to the 30-kilometer-long sea barrier erected illegally in Tangerang, Banten, which could implicate bigger names in addition to the four low-level suspects named thus far.

The resurgence of the CPO bribery case is another crucial test for the AGO and its willingness to go beyond corrupt judges to pursue those individuals responsible for granting the controversial export permits in the first place. After all, acquittals only come once the damage has been done.

Most notable among the case’s high-profile suspects is Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who is alleged of aiding and abetting in the provision of export permits to the three CPO companies, along with then-trade minister Muhammad Lutfi. Airlangga and Lutfi have both faced the music several times, but the AGO has never declared them suspects. The investigation into the scandal concluded after the sentencing of Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, who was then the Trade Ministry’s foreign trade director general.

Analysts suggested at the time that Airlangga’s involvement in the scandal contributed to his eventual resignation last year as Golkar Party chairman, rumored to be a power play by former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo”, especially since he was subsequently replaced by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, a Jokowi loyalist. Throughout his presidency, Jokowi was known for using law enforcement as a personal tool to embroil his political rivals in graft scandals to keep them in check.

Ironically, among those detained by the AGO was Ali Muhtarom, an ad hoc judge currently presiding over the trial of former trade minister Thomas Lembong, a former Jokowi ally turned foe who is charged with embezzling state funds in a sugar import project. Critics say the case is another of Jokowi’s ploys to subdue Thomas for supporting his longtime political rival Anies Baswedan in the 2024 presidential election.

Ali’s arrest in connection with the CPO graft case rehashes the issue of behind-the-scenes maneuvering and might implicate bigger names, some of who were thought to have been spared through political concessions. The recent crackdown might send a warning to other politicians, although the verdict is still out on whether AGO prosecutors will be content with nabbing corrupt judges or will continue its hunt for the big fish.