Legislators back retenders on pacts with Soeharto clan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Legislators have backed the government's
\ndecision to retender contracts held by family and friends of
\nformer president Soeharto for shipment of state oil and gas
\ncompany Pertamina's products.<\/p>\n
Djusril Djusan and Priyo Budi Santoso, both of the ruling
\nGolkar functional group, called yesterday for Pertamina to
\nconduct the retendering as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
"The bidding should be open to all people without any
\nexceptions," Priyo said.<\/p>\n
Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said
\nrecently he had instructed Pertamina to retender contracts
\nawarded to companies linked to Soeharto's family and cronies,
\nincluding contracts for the shipment of Pertamina's products, to
\nweed out those ventures which were exorbitantly costly to
\nPertamina.<\/p>\n
Pertamina and House of Representatives' data say between 120
\nand 149 companies linked to Soeharto's family and associates
\nconduct business with Pertamina.<\/p>\n
Data shows Soeharto's family dominate most of Pertamina's
\nbusiness aspects, including the shipment of liquefied natural gas
\n(LNG).<\/p>\n
Pertamina's president Soegianto said in a recent hearing with
\nthe House of Representatives that Pertamina currently operated
\n180 tankers, of which 40 tankers were owned by Pertamina and the
\nrest chartered from private companies.<\/p>\n
The chartered tankers include 22 tankers owned by Samudra
\nPetrindo Asia of the Bimantara Group, which is controlled by
\nSoeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, and four tankers owned by PT
\nHumpuss Intermoda Transportation, controlled by his brother
\nHutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.<\/p>\n
Bimantara and Humpuss Intermoda are both listed on the Jakarta
\nStock Exchange.<\/p>\n
House data says Samudra Petrindo holds exclusive rights to
\ndeliver LNG from the Arun LNG plant in Aceh to South Korea, while
\nHumpuss holds exclusive rights to deliver LNG from the Badak LNG
\nplant in Bontang, East Kalimantan, to Taiwan and Japan.<\/p>\n
"All contracts for the shipment of Pertamina's products were
\nawarded through open tender," Soegianto said during the hearing.<\/p>\n
But Djusril claimed the contracts for the shipment of LNG had
\nbeen awarded to Samudra Petrindo and Humpuss exclusive of a
\nbidding process.<\/p>\n
"Maybe what you mean by open tenders are tenders which are
\nopen but decided upon in closed rooms," Djusril responded.<\/p>\n
In its 1997 annual report, Humpuss also acknowledged Pertamina
\ndid not hold a bidding process before awarding contracts for the
\nshipment of LNG, but simply appointed contract holders. (jsk)<\/p>",
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