Police probe into alleged fraud in Pertamina's Petral

The police are probing into alleged manipulation of US$9 million in fund of Pertamina Energy Trading Limited (Petral), which has led to the dismissal of its president director Soekono Wahjoe, state oil and gas firm Pertamina said Wednesday.

The case will be brought to court after the police complete their work, Pertamina president director Ariffi Nawawi told a parliamentary hearing.

Petral is Pertamina's trading arm tasked with developing and maintaining markets of Indonesian crude oil and oil products and to supply Pertamina with similar items from overseas.

Ariffi said in the parliamentary hearing that Soekono had been dismissed in connection with the suspected fraud. “We are not yet clear however whether he was involved in it," he said.

Reports said Ari Soemarno, a Pertamina senior official and also elder brother of Minister of Trade Rini Soewandi, would replace Soekono. (godang)