Pertamina officials investigated in fuel smuggling case

A number of state oil and gas company Pertamina's executives are being investigated for their alleged involvement in the widely published fuel smuggling operation, Tempo Interaktif reported on Wednesday.

Pertamina's president Baihaki Hakim confirmed the investigation but he refused to speak about the possible involvement of the company's executives in the scam. "We still investigate the case. We don't know who are involved until the probe is completed," he told the press.

According to media reports, a large scale of fuel smuggling operations have been carried out in coastal area, North Jakarta. The subsidized fuel, mostly diesel oil and kerosene, which should have been sold in the domestic market, was shipped to Singapore.

Baihaki also denied that his recent move to consolidate and reorganize the management of the state oil and gas company had no relations with the smuggling case.

"The restructuring program has been prepared for a long time in order to make Pertamina's organization more effective," he added. But acknowledged that alleged rampant corruption and collusion in the company are partly due to the company's too far organization," he said.

Baihaki Hakim said earlier that the government and the House of Representatives had approved the reorganization plan, which would not only streamline bureaucracy procedure but also scrap ineffective divisions in a bring the company into the same level with other major oil and gas company in the world.

"We are still waiting for a Presidential decree to begin the restructuring program," he said, adding that the decree was needed to ensure that the plan would run smoothly and to avoid resistance from within and outside the company. (*)