AGO to examine former minister, conglomerate leader on Balongan case

The Attorney General?s Office said on Wednesday it would examine former minister of energy Ginandjar Kartasasmita and the jailed conglomerate leader Bob Hasan on a corruption case related to the Balongan oil refinery project in West Java.

AGO spokesperson Barman Zahir said Ginandjar had authorized state oil and gas firm Pertamina to negotiate with contractors on the value of the Balongan refinery.

Meanwhile, Bob Hasan, who is presently held at the Nusakambangan penitentiary for another corruption case, had been the local agent for Japan?s consortium Japan Gasoline Construction (JGC) which was involved in the project, Barman said.

The AGO had examined key suspect Tabrani Ismail who was former director of state oil and gas company Pertamina.

The Balongan refinery which is located in facility in West Java has a capacity of 125,000 bpd of oil.

House of Representatives (DPR) members had planned to summon Attorney General MA Rachman to push him to immediately launch a court process on eight alleged corruption cases at Pertamina which had caused the state to suffer around Rp 3.4 trillion in financial losses.

Aside from the Balongan project, the corruption cases in Pertamina include Bunyu oil field project, Pendopo oil field project, Prabumulih oil field project, Jatibarang project, Perta Oil trading project, Technical Assistance Contract of PT Triharsa Bima Nusa Tunggal, and Tanpa Kampu pipeline project. (*)