Govt may suffer losses up to Rp 376 billion due to fraud in fuel sales

The government might suffer losses of up to Rp 376.7 billion from the illegal sales of subsidized fuels during the period between April 2005 to March 2006, according to a finding made by the Investigation Team for Fuel Sales. Kompas reported on Thursday.

The head of the investigation team, Slamet Singgih, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the frauds found by the team comprised mostly in the form of illegal sales of the subsidized fuels to industries and shipping companies, as well as the abusing of fuel meters in a number of gasoline stations.

He said that the team had found at least 27 industries had bought subsidized fuels from illegal sources, causing potential losses of up to Rp 57.4 billion to the state. At the same time, the team also found that a number of shipping companies had also bought subsidized fuels worth about Rp 3.38 billion.

In addition, according to Slamet, the government might also suffer losses up to Rp 4.01 billion due to the abuse of fuel meters at 83 gasoline stations.

Meanwhile, state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said it would clarify the findings with the investigation team. "As far now, we believe that our losses still below than tolerance level of 0.5 percent," Pertamina spokesman Abadi Purnomo told reporters on Wednesday.(*)