List of 7 Suspects in Petral Crude Oil Procurement Corruption Case

Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has designated a total of seven individuals as suspects in the corruption case concerning the procurement of crude oil by Pertamina Energy Trading Limited (Petral) from 2008 to 2015. In this case, the AGO has once again named oil trader Mohammad Riza Chalid as a suspect. Riza is currently a fugitive following his designation in a separate corruption case involving the governance of crude oil and refinery products at PT Pertamina. “We have designated seven individuals as suspects in the matter of procuring crude oil and refinery products at Petral from 2008 to 2015,” stated Director of Investigations for the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, on Thursday (9/4). Syarief detailed that the suspects include BBG, who served as Manager of Marketing and Trading at Pertamina’s Directorate of Marketing and Trading and later as Managing Director of Pertamina Energy Service (PES). Then there is AGS, who held the position of Head of Trading at PES from 2012 to 2014; MLY, Senior Trader at PES from 2009 to 2015; NRD, Crude Trading Manager at PES; and TFK, VP of ISC at PT Pertamina, with his last position as President Director of PT Pertamina International Shipping. Furthermore, Riza Chalid served as the beneficial owner or beneficiary of companies Gold Manor, VeritaOil, and Global Energy Resources. Finally, IRW was a director at those companies owned by Riza Chalid. In this case, Syarief said that they discovered leaks of confidential internal information from Petral regarding crude oil and gasoline needs. This information was then exploited by Riza Chalid through his subordinate IRW to influence the procurement process or tender for crude oil, refinery products, and transportation. “Mr. MRC, through Mr. IRW, communicated with procurement officials both at Petral and Pertamina,” he explained. He elaborated that the communication was carried out by IRW to suspects BBG, MLY, and TFK. Through this communication, he said, tender conditioning occurred along with the disclosure of HPS (Estimated Own Price) values. “Thus, there was a mark-up or overpricing because the procurement became non-competitive,” he clarified. To facilitate Riza Chalid’s plans, Syarief mentioned that the Petral officials then issued guidelines that contradicted the minutes of the board meeting. As a result, the tender was successfully conducted, and an MoU was established between Petral and Riza Chalid’s companies to supply refinery oil products from 2012 to 2014. “The tender or procurement process for crude oil and refinery products resulted in a longer supply chain and higher prices,” he stated. “Especially for Gasoline 88, known as Premium 88, and Gasoline 92. This caused losses to PT Pertamina,” he added.