Wilmar posts US$729m security deposit amid Indonesian corruption appeal, PPB discloses

PPB Group Bhd has announced that its associate company, Wilmar International Ltd, has placed a security deposit of 11.88 trillion Indonesian rupiah (approximately US$729 million or RM3.44 billion) with the Indonesian Attorney General's Office (AGO), in connection with an ongoing court appeal involving five of its subsidiaries.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, PPB, which holds an 18.8% interest in Wilmar, said the announcement was made by Wilmar on the Singapore Exchange following a press conference by the Attorney General of Indonesia on the same day.
The case stems from charges brought by the AGO in April 2024 against five Wilmar subsidiaries, namely PT Multimas Nabati Asahan, PT Multi Nabati Sulawesi, PT Sinar Alam Permai, PT Wilmar Bioenergi Indonesia, and PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, for allegedly causing financial losses to the state, making unauthorised profits, and harming the business sector during a domestic cooking oil shortage between July and December 2021.
The AGO claimed that the alleged actions led to total state losses of IDR12.3 trillion (about US$755 million), and subsequently appealed a Central Jakarta Court decision that favoured the Wilmar entities.
In its statement, Wilmar said the AGO requested the group to 'demonstrate their belief in the Indonesian judicial system and their good faith and innocence, by placing a security deposit' equivalent to part of the alleged losses and supposed illegal gains. The Wilmar subsidiaries have complied with this request.
Wilmar stated that the 'Security Deposit will be returned… if the Indonesian Supreme Court upholds the decision of the Central Jakarta Court, but may be forfeited, in full or in part… if the Indonesian Supreme Court finds against the Wilmar Respondents.'
The group reiterated: 'The Wilmar Respondents continue to maintain that all actions taken by them were taken in good faith and free from any corrupt intent.' — TMR

Hashtags

Business

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Indonesian minister faces backlash after calling 1998 mass rape a ‘rumour'

The Star

38 minutes ago

The Star

Indonesian minister faces backlash after calling 1998 mass rape a ‘rumour'

JAKARTA: Indonesia's Cultural Affairs Minister Fadli Zon, already under fire for his initiative to rewrite Indonesian history, is facing a renewed public backlash for downplaying the well-documented mass rapes of Indonesians of Chinese descent during the May 1998 protests and riots that led to the fall of then-president Suharto. In a June 11 podcast, Fadli dismissed the rapes as mere rumours, claiming there has never been any evidence to support the allegations, comments that have triggered painful memories of the deadly chaos that engulfed Jakarta and elsewhere. Criticism has lit up social media, with responses coming from prominent human rights activists to a former police general. 'Has Fadli Zon never read about the mass rapes in the 1998 riots or does he actually know of the incidents but chooses to be in denial?' X social media user @bangjerrrr from Indonesia wrote. The controversy also raises questions about the political motivations for Fadli's remarks and the project to revise Indonesian history, with the aim of the latter to produce a book that is the nation's 'official history'. There are also concerns that it is an attempt to downplay politically sensitive episodes in the nation's past. The 1998 events have also dogged President Prabowo Subianto for years. He is a former Commandant General of Kopassus (Special Forces Command) and has been accused of involvement in abducting activists and orchestrating the 1998 riots, accusations he has repeatedly denied. He is also Suharto's former son-in-law. Prabowo married Siti Hediati Hariyadi, a daughter of Suharto, in 1983. They divorced in 1998. Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, cited findings from a government-commissioned fact-finding team that confirmed the mass rapes happened, noting the team's report prompted then-president B.J. Habibie to acknowledge and express regret in his first speech before Parliament in August 1998. Usman called Fadli's remarks 'a fatal mistake' and 'an arrogant denial against a fact the mass rapes occurred', arguing that such facts cannot be categorised as rumours because it was confirmed by a report from an authoritative party. 'The report was done by a joint fact-finding task force consisting of various ministries including defence ministry, justice affairs ministry and the attorney-general's office that was formed by then-president Habibie,' Usman said, referring to the Tim Gabungan Pencari Fakta task force (TGPF). The task force recorded 52 cases of rape, 14 cases of rape and assault, 10 cases of attacks and sexual assault, and 9 cases of sexual abuse. But it stressed that this does not represent the full number of actual victims because the report was based on the testimonies of the victims who were willing to come forward between May and July 3, 1998. 'The majority of the rape cases were gang rapes... And most of the rapes were done while other people were watching,' the report says. Former national police chief Oegroseno, who uses one name, also condemned the minister. 'Fadli Zon, if you don't know the situation on the ground in 1998, you shouldn't talk too much. The people who were victims feel hurt by your statement,' the retired three-star police general wrote in an Instagram post on June 17. In his Aug 14, 1998, speech that cited the report, Habibie said: 'The looting and burning of shopping centres and residential homes were even accompanied by acts of violence and sexual abuse against women, particularly those from the ethnic Chinese community. 'All of these irresponsible criminal acts are very shameful and have tarnished our reputation as a civilised and religious nation; we condemn such barbarity,' he added. Fadli was a noted student activist who opposed Suharto's authoritarianism and played a key role in organising street rallies at the time. Scores of Prabowo's inner circle -- those who supported his presidential campaigns and currently serving in the Cabinet -- come from among the 1998 pro-reform student leaders, who boldly went against Suharto. Political analysts Burhanuddin Muhtadi and Adi Prayitno, quoted by local media, have considered Prabowo's recruitment pro-reform activists as a political strategy to try to convince voters he has reformed, and to expand constituency base. Other 1998 pro-reform activists include Budiman Sudjatmiko, who is head of the poverty eradication agency, Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan, who is deputy manpower minister, and Nezar Patria, who is deputy communications and digital affairs minister. Nezar was reported to be among the abductees who managed to return home in 1998. Responding to the mounting criticism, Fadli said on June 16: 'Various criminal acts occurred amid the May 13-14, 1998 riots, including acts of sexual violence, however, with regard to mass rapes, caution is needed as data on the incident has never been conclusive.' Fadli said that he does not interfere in the rewriting of Indonesian history, stressing that he entirely has left it to the historians to do this and to complete the rewriting project. Chinese descendant Indonesian Pauline Irawati, 55, a retiree, sees Fadli's motive as an attempted cover-up for Prabowo. 'What Fadli Zon said is otherwise incomprehensible,' she told The Straits Times. Prabowo's alleged role in human rights violations in 1998, East Timor and elsewhere has dogged his political career. Prabowo was once banned by the US for rights violations. Pauline remembers the violent gangs that hunted the Chinese in 1998. She managed to evade the mobs on May 14 as she took a 2½-hour journey from her colleague's home in Karawaci, a Jakarta satellite town, to her home in Cengkareng, West Jakarta. Her office sent staff home early the day before and she, the only Chinese in the office, decided to spend the night at a colleague's home near the office, before making the trip home in a public minivan. 'On the way home, we were stopped a few times by mobs who asked, 'Are there Chinese on board?' I was the only Chinese there. I kept my head down to avoid being noticed,' Pauline recalled, adding that other passengers protected her by always saying there were no Chinese on board. While Fadli has promised he will not interfere in the work of historians revising the nation's history, Bambang Wuryanto, an MP from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), isn't so sure. He said in Parliament on June 17 that subjectivity in the history rewriting project initiated by Fadli, a senior politician of the ruling party Gerindra, would definitely play in the process. Parliament's education and culture committee member Bonnie Triyana said on June 18 that Parliament will invite Fadli to a House hearing to give explanation about the history rewriting project. 'Don't rewrite history using a power-driven approach, and don't be selective and partial based on political interest. If that's so, It's better to stop the programme altogether,' he said. - The Straits Times/ANN

Strong infrastructure, public-private partnerships key to future of AI and digital technologies

The Sun

an hour ago

The Sun

Strong infrastructure, public-private partnerships key to future of AI and digital technologies

ISKANDAR PUTERI: The future of artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and next-generation digital technologies depends heavily on robust infrastructure backed by collaborative partnerships between industry and government, said Microsoft's regional legal director for the Asia-Pacific Jeth Lee. He said AI advancements are deeply rooted in physical infrastructure such as data centres, which remain essential to supporting growing workloads in the cloud. 'Artificial intelligence doesn't operate in a vacuum. These workloads run in the cloud and are underpinned by physical data centres,' he said. Lee was speaking as a panellist at the Nikkei Forum Medini 2025 in the session on Empowering Next-Generation Computing Power - Boost Asia's Innovation with AI and Data Centres here today. Lee emphasised the importance of cross-border data flows and regional partnerships, especially with governments like Malaysia's, which he described as having a 'forward-looking digital policy'. 'This cannot be driven by the private sector alone. Public-private partnerships are essential. Countries like Malaysia, with visionary digital initiatives, play a vital role in ensuring we can build infrastructure that is secure, sustainable, and globally connected,' he said. He added that in the next five to ten years, sustainability, security and governance will become defining pillars of digital development. 'It's a flight to fundamentals. Beyond economic drivers, we'll see sustainability and cross-border governance as key to unlocking the true value of AI and other technologies,' he said. Recently, Microsoft has announced the general availability of its Malaysia West Cloud Region, launched as part of its US$2.2 billion investment in the country. The new cloud region, located in Greater Kuala Lumpur, will deliver world-class AI datacentre infrastructure and enable organisations to accelerate innovation securely – supporting a future that is inclusive, sustainable and AI-ready.