Incomplete Business Licence: Riza Chalid-Linked Firm Participates in Training Vessel Procurement
JAKARTA — Ario Wicaksono, Chief Executive of PT Jenggala Maritim Nusantara (JMN), stated that his company had registered for procurement with PT Pertamina International Shipping (PT PIS) as a training exercise because it was clear from the outset that winning was impossible.
Ario made this statement whilst giving evidence at a continuation hearing in the corruption case involving crude oil management at PT Pertamina (Persero), with defendants Arief Sukmara, Director of Gas Petrochemical at PT PIS, and Indra Putra, Director of PT Petro Energi Nusantara and Business Development Manager at PT Mahameru Kencana Abadi.
“Do you know the partnership process? Did you previously participate in the Jenggala Bango tender and then fail in the first tender?” asked prosecutor Triyana Setia Putra during the hearing at Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.
Ario confirmed that around 2023, PT JMN had become aware of procurement for a vessel the size of the Jenggala Bango.
“We were aware of the risk from the beginning, but as a training exercise for our team on how to submit on the website and everything like that,” Ario explained.
When pressed by prosecutors, Ario stated that PT JMN participated in the tender solely as a training exercise for the document submission process.
“At that time, we only had the authenticated deed; if I recall correctly, it was still being processed and not yet complete,” Ario added.
However, prosecutors raised the matter of several other documents that PT JMN did not possess, including a licence for oil and gas transportation operations.
This licence was issued on 28 February 2024. The time charter (TC) method procurement that JMN used as a training exercise had already been completed.
However, during the same period, PT JMN obtained a ship rental contract using the spot charter method. When this cooperation began, JMN did not yet possess all the required business licences.
“From our understanding, the requirements requested by PT PIS regarding TC and spot procurement are different,” Ario said.
Between November and December 2023, PT JMN received seven ship charter projects from PT PIS, all using the spot method.
“For these spot contracts, there were actually multiple points, and these were eventually awarded to Jenggala Bango. Why was it not requested that a TC contract be done at that time? This period was from November 2023 to December 2023, a span of two months,” prosecutors questioned.