Fuel distributor Panutan sues Pertamina for suspension
Tuesday, July 4 2000 - 03:30 AM WIB
PT Panutan Selaras, who allegedly mixed fuels with other products, sued Pertamina at the Jakarta Administrative Court for suspending it from participating in the distribution of Pertamina's fuel products.
Panutan president Anton Poniman said that Pertamina's decision was too heavy for Panutan because it was only one driver who mixed fuels with other products, but the penalty was imposed to the whole company.
"Who actually did that (the mixing) was actually one driver, and we already gave sanctions to him, but the whole company was punished (by Pertamina)," he said.
Anton said that his party would accept Pertamina's sanction if it was supported by the court. As long as there was no legal power to support Pertamina's sanction against Panutan, Pertamina had no rights to unilaterally disqualify Panutan.
Anton also said that his company was only a distributor, and the mixing of fuels might happen before the fuel was transported by Panutan to gas stations. He suggested that Pertamina imposed a quality standards for all fuel products, to ensure that the quality of fuels in gas stations was exactly the same with the quality of fuels from the refinery.
"How we know the quality of fuels we are transporting. The quality of their products must have been checked in from the upstream to the downstream levels," he said.
Meanwhile, the head of Pertamina's Domestic Supplies Unit III, Tuti Anggraeni, said that Pertamina was ready to face the law suit from Panutan, arguing that the state oil company had taken the right steps in suspending Panutan.
Panutan was only one out of ten fuel distributors that were suspended by Pertamina, she said.
"We give opportunities for those who are not satisfied with our decisions to take legal actions," she said.
She noted that Pertamina had actually sent warning letters three times to Panutan, but the latter ignored them, until Pertamina decided to suspend Panutan. The first and second warning letter was given to Panutan after Pertamina received complaints from gas station owners over the quality of fuels transported by Panutan. The suspension was given following a press report about Panutan's violation, and it was confirmed by Pertamina's field inspection. (*)