Speaking on Wednesday at the Attorney General’s Office in Jakarta, Prabowo said the forestry fines that handed over by the Attorney General’s Office, collected from 20 palm oil companies, represented only a small example of the country’s actual losses, which he said are far greater.
“If this is examined further, the administrative fines that should be paid could reach hundreds of trillions of Rupiah,” Prabowo said, adding, “Some parties are defiant and take this lightly. We have proven, and we will continue to prove, that we are serious.”
Of the total amount, Rp2.34 trillion (US$139 million) came from forestry administrative fines collected by the Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH) from 20 palm oil firms and one nickel mining company.
The remaining Rp4.28 trillion (US$255 million) was recovered through corruption cases handled by the Attorney General’s Office, stemming from investigations into alleged corruption in the granting of crude palm oil export permits and sugar import schemes.
After asking ministers accompanying him at the event, Prabowo said Indonesia requires nearly 200,000 housing units to permanently resettle victims of floods and landslides.
“With this amount alone, 100,000 houses are already paid for. Just imagine how many corporations there are. These 20 companies, 20 companies that refused to fulfill their obligations, could have saved the lives of 100,000 of our fellow citizens,” he emphasized.
According to the report from Attorney General, the task force has successfully reclaimed over 4.08 million hectares of forest land. Of that total, 893,002 hectares have been returned to the state with permanent legal status.
The reclaimed areas consist of 240,575 hectares of oil palm plantations linked to 124 legal entities across six provinces, as well as 688,427 hectares of conservation forest spread across nine provinces.
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Translator: Mentari Dwi, Kuntum Khaira
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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