Pertamina retains Bob Hasan's dividends for 2 years

State-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina has retained for two years dividends for Bob Hasan from income generated by insurance firm PT Tugu Pratama Indonesia because Bob's ownership at the company was questionable.

Pertamina's president Baihaki Hakim acknowledged that Tugu Pratama that he claimed to be controlled 100 percent by Pertamina did not give dividends to Bob for the last two years because Bob had never submitted any cash or money or anything to Tugu Pratama that accorded him a 35 percent stake.

"So far, we are still studying whether Bob has submitted funds for its 35 percent shares," Baihaki said after attending the handover of jobs from the old mines and energy minister to the new energy and mineral resources minister on Saturday.

The value of the retained dividend could reach about Rp 50 billion, according to Satunet.

Because of the dispute between Pertamina and Bob, a number of legislators, including Ramson Siagian, demanded Tugu Pratama to postpone the extraordinary shareholders meeting initially scheduled for August 30. But Baihaki insisted that the shareholders meeting would proceed as scheduled. (*)