The Jakarta Corruption Court begins hearing the cooking oil corruption case involving Lin Che Wei. It reveals the role played by the then Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi.

Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin explains the progress of the investigation into suspected corruption, allegedly involving former Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi, that caused the cooking oil scarcity. On the Paniai gross human rights violation, he dismisses rumors that there are lobbies to settle the case.

The Attorney General’s Office continues to investigate who is responsible for the shortages of cooking oil in the last few months. Policymakers are tainted by conflict of interests.

Lin Che Wei insists that he is innocent. Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi has not given a statement since the cooking oil graft case became public.

The attorney general names Lin Che Wei the fifth suspect in the graft case surrounding the export of crude palm oil and its derivatives. Investigators are also looking into Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi’s role in the affair.

The setting of a maximum retail price causes a shortage of cooking oil. This is a result of makeshift policies on biodiesel.

The spike in the price of cooking oil forces the government to perform acrobatics. Three policies were issued in a short time.

The increasing price of feed further makes things difficult for laying hen farmers, who have been suffering losses from the plummeting price of eggs. There are irregularities in the government’s data.

Muhammad Lutfi immediately stepped on the gas right after he was sworn in as trade minister on December 23, 2020. The former envoy to the United States must focus on three main duties mandated to him by President Joko Widodo: to maintain price stability; to help MSMEs penetrate the export market; and, to expand the export market to non-traditional territories by making use of the international economic cooperation agreements Indonesia has signed. According to him, China and the United States are extremely important to Indonesia.

The government issued permits to import raw sugar for the refined sugar industry in order to cover demand. This policy, however, is deemed insufficient to solve supply shortage for high-quality raw material suffered by a number of food and beverage companies.