Pertamina?s five ex-top officials questioned in bribery case

Indonesia?s anti-corruption agency questioned on Tuesday five former top executives of the state owned oil and gas company Pertamina in a bribery case involving the company? s former director and a British company.

Pertamina?s former executives included former president director Baihaki Hakim (2000-2003), former president director Ariffi Nawawi (2003-2004), former president director Widya Purnama (2004-2006), former president director Ari Hernanto Soemarno (2006-2009) and former vice president Iin Arifin Takhyan

The five former top executives of the state oil and gas company were questioned for about six hours as witnesses in a bribery case in which former processing director Suroso Atmo Martoyo had been declared as a suspect. But they refused to comment when they were asked by journalists after the questioning.

Johan Budi, the spokesman for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), said that Suroso was named a suspect in a bribery case involving British company Innospec. He said that there were strong indications that Innospec bribed Suroso in the procurement of a fuel additive called tetraethyl lead (TEL) worth Rp 261 billion (US$28.44 million).

In March last year, Innospec Limited, the UK arm of a US chemicals firm, appeared at the Southwark Crown Court and pleaded guilty to bribing officials in order to secure contracts for the supplies of the chemical. Innospec was fined US$12.7 million (?8.5 million) after admitting it had bribed Indonesian officials. According to the indictment, Suroso allegedly received Rp 2.7 billion from the company, The Jakarta Post reported on Wednesday.

Suroso and former Pertamina vice president Mustiko Saleh allegedly traveled to Britain to play golf in 2005, using Innospec funds. (godang)