Attorney General's Office Reveals Petral Corruption Case Affecting Fuel Prices 2015-2018
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has revealed the impact of the corruption case in the procurement of crude oil by Pertamina Energy Trading Limited (Petral) during the period 2015-2018.
Director of Investigation for the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that the corrupt actions caused a lengthening of the fuel supply chain all the way to consumers.
This situation, he said, affected the prices of Premium (88) and Pertamax (92) fuel circulating in society during that period.
“The tender or procurement process for crude oil and refinery products caused a longer supply chain and higher prices,” he said during a press conference on Thursday (9/4).
“Especially for Gasoline 88, which we know as Premium 88, and Gasoline 92. This resulted in losses for PT Pertamina,” he added.
Syarief explained that the case began when Petral officials leaked secret internal company information regarding crude oil and gasoline needs.
That information was then exploited by oil trader Mohammad Riza Chalid (MRC) through his subordinate IRW to influence the procurement or tender process for crude oil, refinery products, and transportation.
“Brother MRC, through brother IRW, communicated with procurement officials both at Petral and Pertamina,” he explained.
He detailed that the communication was conducted by IRW to suspects BBG, MLY, and TFK. Through this communication, he said, tender conditioning occurred along with information on the HPS (Harga Perkiraan Sendiri) value.
This conditioning then caused inflated prices because the procurement became non-competitive. To facilitate Riza Chalid’s plan, Syarief stated that Petral officials then issued guidelines that contradicted the board meeting minutes.
As a result, the tender was successfully carried out, and an MoU was established between Petral and Riza Chalid’s company to supply refinery oil products from 2012 to 2014.
In this case, the AGO has named a total of seven suspects, namely BBG as Manager of Marketing and Trading at Pertamina’s Marketing and Trading Directorate, who once served as Managing Director of Pertamina Energy Service (PES).
Then AGS, who served as Head of Trading at PES from 2012-2014; MLY as Senior Trader at PES from 2009-2015; NRD as Crude Trading Manager at PES; TFK as VP of ISC at PT Pertamina, with his last position as President Director of PT Pertamina International Shipping.
Furthermore, Riza Chalid as the Beneficial Owner or beneficiary of companies Gold Manor, VeritaOil, and Global Energy Resources. Finally, IRW as Director at Riza Chalid’s companies.