InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Corruption in palm oil sectors that involved Surya Darmadi, the owner of PT Duta Palma Group in Riau Province delivered losses up to trillions of rupiah for the country and destroyed thousands of hectares of forests.

The latest study by Transparency International (TI) Indonesia revealed that anti-corruption perception in Indonesia is low enough. The organization assessed 50 palm oil plantation companies in many aspects, such as, anti-corruption, political exposed persons (PEPs), and reports of those that get last advantages from the companies.

Writer and researcher of TI Indonesia, Bellicia Angelia Tanvil said that the average perception for anti-corruption reached only 3,5 of 10. “As a warning, the company within high score does not guarantee that the company is operating well,” she said in the report recently as quoted from Betahita.

Bellicia also said palm oil governance in Indonesia still faces lots of issues, such as conflict of interests and corruption. She thought, the scores indicated that the fifty companies are below the median scores. This is not good to reveal transparency in political actions of the companies.

She also told many companies do not complete anti-corruption policies. Of the numbers that TI Indonesia assessed, only four got anti-corruption policies. 26 of 50 have commitment to anti-corruption and every worker should also be committed. “The rests, anti-corruption commitment is not clearly explained,” Bellicia said.

About transparency in political involvement, she continued, only one of 50 companies wrote political donation in details while the rests do not publish political donation or statement that the companies did or did not do it. (T2)