Former Ombudsman Commissioner named suspect for obstructing cooking oil probe

Indonesia's Attorney General's Office has declared former Ombudsman Commissioner Yeka Hendra Fatika a suspect for allegedly obstructing an investigation into the 2022 cooking oil scarcity. Investigators accuse Fatika of abusing his authority at the Ombudsman by altering the final report of an examination concerning the issue.

According to Director of Investigation Syarief Sulaiman Nahdi, Fatika is accused of illegally changing the report's content. The original report, dated March 24, 2022, addressed maladministration in the provision and price stabilization of cooking oil by the Ministry of Trade. Prosecutors allege Fatika modified it to focus on the revocation of the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) for Crude Palm Oil (CPO) exports, structuring it unlawfully.

Prosecutors further allege that Fatika received money from Marcella Santoso, a lawyer for Wilmar Group, to produce this manipulated Ombudsman Final Report of Examination (LAHP) on August 15, 2022. This was during the time an individual corruption case related to CPO exports was proceeding at the Central Jakarta District Court.

The LAHP, which stated the Minister of Trade was negligent in formulating regulations for cooking oil provision and price stabilization, leading to price hikes and scarcity, also recommended the revocation of the DMO policy. Prosecutors claim Fatika leaked this confidential document to Santoso, who then used it as a basis for a civil lawsuit against the Ministry of Trade.

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YHF has changed the material of the Ombudsman RI information report which was originally related to the scarcity of cooking oil to the revocation of DMO or Domestic Market Obligation for export purposes (CPO) which was prepared unlawfully.