Deviations of Caltex payment remain uncertain

Alleged deviations of the compensation money paid by Caltex Pasific Indonesia (CPI) to 42 families in the Tennganu village in the destrict of Mandau, Bengkalis regency, Riau remain uncertain despite the promise by the local authority to speed up the investigation on the charge.

Wan Muchtar, a senior official of the local regency administration, said that his office had yet not received the result of the investigation made by a fact finding team recently set up by the head of the regenct.

"We are still waiting for the investigation result," he said.

Residents at the Tengganu village complained that the money paid by Caltex as the compensation for the use of a land plot by the oil company had gone to wrong recipients. The villagers, who claimed as the real owners of the land, said that the recipients had no rights over the land and were not deserved to receiving the compensation payment.

The regency official said that his office had not also received the result of the investigation over the alleged deviation of some Rp 60 million in safety net program chanelled by the central government to help the poor in the regency.

The public had demanded the local authority to annouce the result of the investigation made by the fact-finding team. (*)