Jakarta. Investigators have uncovered $360,000 in cash hidden under a mattress at the home of a Jakarta judge who is currently in custody for allegedly accepting bribes in a major corruption case, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced on Wednesday.

The US banknotes were literally stashed beneath the bed of Judge Ali Muhtarom, one of four judges facing trial in connection with a bribery scheme involving a high-profile crude palm oil (CPO) export case.

Prosecutors recovered the cash -- 36 stacks of $100 bills totaling 3,600 notes -- during a search of the judge’s residence in Jepara Regency, Central Java, on April 13, AGO spokesman Harli Siregar said.

“We found $360,000, or around Rp 5.5 billion,” Harli told reporters.

The search was conducted shortly after Ali’s arrest on Sunday and his subsequent interrogation at AGO headquarters in Jakarta.

“While being questioned, AM contacted his family in Jepara, who then revealed the location of the money under the mattress,” Harli said, referring to the judge by his initials.

A video released by the AGO shows investigators pulling a cardboard box from beneath a mattress and unwrapping a suitcase concealed in a rice sack. A woman at the residence guided officers to the stash, where they discovered two large packages of US currency sealed in plastic.

Despite the money being revealed through Ali’s own tip-off, Harli said prosecutors are still determining whether the cash is linked to the ongoing bribery probe.

“We’re investigating whether these banknotes were unspent bribes from the current case or came from other illicit sources,” he added.

Ali is one of eight suspects in the bribery scheme which sought an acquittal for three palm oil companies -- Wilmar Group, Permata Hijau Group, and Musim Mas Group -- that were on trial for illegal CPO exports.

Prosecutors have so far arrested four judges, a court clerk, two defense attorneys, and a corporate executive after the companies were cleared in a controversial verdict last month.

A preliminary probe revealed that a senior judge allegedly demanded Rp 60 billion in exchange for the favorable ruling.

Ali sat on the three-member judicial panel that issued the acquittal, alongside fellow judges Djuyamto and Agam Syarif Baharuddin -- both of whom have also been detained. The scheme is believed to have been orchestrated by South Jakarta District Court Chief Judge Muhammad Arif Nuryanta, who was the first to be arrested.

Other suspects include South Jakarta court clerk Wahyu Gunawan, attorneys Ariyanto Bakri and Marcella Santoso, and Muhammad Syafei, Wilmar Group’s Head of Social Security and Licensing.

Before the ruling, prosecutors had demanded hefty fines from the companies: Rp 11.8 trillion ($702.7 million) from Wilmar, Rp 4.8 trillion ($285.8 million) from Musim Mas, and Rp 937 billion ($55.8 million) from Permata Hijau.

The AGO has already seized Rp 1.4 trillion ($83 million) in cash and dozens of luxury vehicles from the companies, with the assets now held in a government account.

The case stems from alleged violations of a 2022 temporary CPO export ban imposed by then-President Joko Widodo to address a nationwide cooking oil shortage. Prosecutors argue that the illegal exports cost the state Rp 18.3 trillion, as the government was forced to subsidize domestic cooking oil prices to mitigate the crisis.

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