Pertamina allegedly involved in fuel smuggling
Monday, January 22 2001 - 04:30 AM WIB
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that there were strong indications that state oil and gas company Pertamina was involved in the smuggling of fuels, especially diesel oil, to overseas markets through Singapore.
The involvement of Pertamina was not merely on the issuance of delivery orders by fuel depots, but more than that and it happened outside the depots.
"Therefore, we need to prepare a joint operation (to uncover the fuel smuggling)," Purnomo told reporters when checking the apprehended fuel smuggling vessels in Tangjungbalai Karimun, Riau.
But Purnomo refused to explain how Pertamina was involved in the smuggling and who ever were involved in the illegal business.
"That needs further investigation. The investigation of this fuel smuggling could not be carried out by technical department only, but it needs the involvement of other related institutions such as the Attorney General's Office, the customs office, the Navy through a joint operation," he said.
The joint operation should be coordinated by Coordinating Minister for Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
According to the head of Tanjungbalai Karimum customs office, Endang Tata, fuel smuggling, especially of diesel oil, happened almost everyday. Based on the customs finding, most of the smuggling was supported by businessmen in Singapore.
Last Saturday, for instance, the customs office apprehended two vessels trying to smuggle diesel oil, MT Cahaya Sakti and MT Timor Sea, respectively carrying 1,119 kilo liters of diesel oil and 1,219 kilo liters. The smuggling of this fuel, if successful, could inflict losses of up to Rp 6 billion to the government.
Thus far, Endang Tata said, the modus operandi of the smuggling was using inter-island transportation documents. But when the vessels were already in the Singapore Straits, they would easily go out of the country to sell the subsidized fuel in overseas market.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Johan Syahferi said that the Indonesian and Singaporean governments would hold a high-level talk to discuss the smuggling issue.
"In near future, we need to conduct a high level inter-governmental meeting between Indonesia and Singapore to solve the various problems of smuggling," he said, adding that the meeting was slated to be held in February or March this year. (*)