Acquittal of Wilmar and two other palm oil conglomerates by a lower court was reversed after bribery accusations
[SINGAPORE] Singapore-based global palm oil company Wilmar International has been found guilty of corruption after Indonesia’s Supreme Court overturned the company’s previous acquittal in a graft case involving cooking oil export permits during the 2021-2022 shortage crisis.
Founded by Singaporean tycoon Kuok Khoon Hong, the mainboard-listed company said in a bourse filing on Thursday (Sep 25) that the Supreme Court overturned the previous acquittals of the group and two Indonesian palm oil companies – Permata Hijau and Musim Mas.
The companies were accused of illegally profiting from the evasion of state-imposed export controls on cooking oil and palm oil.
The controls were implemented to address Indonesia’s cooking oil crisis and domestic palm oil shortage in 2021 and 2022, as global palm oil prices surged.
Specifics of the Supreme Court’s grounds of judgment and any financial awards have not been released.
The Indonesian Attorney-General’s Office (AGO) has sought 11.8 trillion rupiah (S$907 million) in compensation and a billion rupiah fine from Wilmar.
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Permata Hijau faced a fine of one billion rupiah and was ordered to pay 937 billion rupiah in compensation. Musim Mas was also fined one billion rupiah and ordered to pay 4.8 trillion rupiah in compensation.
Corruption, bribery
Suspects in the case were first named in 2022, including a government official and executives of the three companies or their subsidiaries.
In March 2025, the lower court acquitted the three companies of all charges, but by April, the AGO had arrested all four judges handling the case on charges of taking at least US$1.1 million in bribes to arrange a favourable verdict.
In June, the Supreme Court began reviewing the case, as the AGO seized 11.8 trillion rupiah from Wilmar as compensation for state losses arising from the case.
In a statement, the group said: “While Wilmar respects the decision of the Indonesian Supreme Court, it maintains that the actions taken by the Wilmar Respondents, during the period of a shortage of cooking oil in the Indonesian market, were done in compliance with prevailing regulations and in good faith.”
Shares of the counter closed down 0.7 per cent or S$0.02 at S$2.89 on Thursday, before the update.
