Former Pertamina boss questioned in scrap iron sale case

South Sumatra?s provincial prosecutor?s office on Monday questioned the former boss of state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina, Baihaqi Hakim in Palembang in connection with the case of irregularities in the sale of scrap iron owned by the Pertamina?s South Sumatra operations, the Koran Tempo newspaper reported in its Tuesday edition.

The reason for the questioning, the assistant prosecutor for crimes at the prosecutor?s office ? D.J. Sianturi -- said, it was considered that Baihaqi knew about the project to sell the iron.

?Besides this, he (Baihaqi) signed several documents in this case,? Sianturi said.

Baihaqi was questioned for more than six hours. According to Sianturi, Baihaqi?s status is still a witness.

?We wanted to know how far he knew about this project and what was his role,? Sianturi said.

From the 21 witnesses questioned so far, none of them mentioned about Baihaqi.

The iron junk was sold to a relation without any sale and purchase agreement, which caused the state a loss of Rp 1.5 billion.

Earlier, Palembang prosecutors have also arrested former Pertamina high official Purnama on a similar case.(*)