Medan, Indonesia – Surya Darmadi, one of Indonesia’s biggest palm oil tycoons, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to repay the state the equivalent of $2.6bn for his role in a corruption scheme that caused the deforestation of thousands of hectares of protected land in Sumatra.
Darmadi was charged with bribing several Indonesian officials in Riau Province — a major centre for palm oil production — to allow him to convert more than 36,420 hectares (90,000 acres) of forest into oil palm estates under subsidiaries of his company, PT Duta Palma.
