Minister Sjarifudin defends troubled PTP Agrintara
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah continued to defend PTP Agrintara yesterday, saying it had been sold cheap crude palm oil (CPO) to help stabilize domestic cooking oil prices.
Sjarifudin said, however, that he had ordered the Ministry of Agriculture's Joint Marketing Board to stop selling CPO -- the raw material used in olein and cooking oil -- to Agrintara at reduced prices.
State-owned palm oil plantations sell their produce to the Joint Marketing Board.
"The allocations (at special prices) will not continue. But if I consider that the stability of (cooking oil) prices is threatened, I will use Agrintara (for stabilization). Why not?" Sjarifudin said during a break of a hearing of House Commission IV on agriculture and forestry.
Asked whether this move would overlap with the National Logistics Agency's (Bulog) task, Sjarifudin said: "State-owned companies must also be responsible."
Earlier this year, Agrintara, a quasi-private company, was accused of engaging in fraud, involving Sjarifudin's close friend and associate, Burhanuddin Bey.
Critics said the firm made questionable deals with two contractors, PT Mestika Karunia and PT Kalpataru Semesta, both of which are controlled by Burhanuddin.
It is alleged the contractors failed to build a rubber goods factory and a palm oil refinery for Agrintara on time. The contractors were also said to have used obsolete equipment in the new factories.
It was alleged that The Joint Marketing Board had sold Agrintara 30,000 tons of subsidized CPO a month since last December, even though its palm oil refinery only started production this month.
The critics said the Joint Marketing Board had sold CPO to Agrintara for the same price that it had sold it to Bulog, which needs a buffer-stock of CPO to control prices and for national emergencies.
CPO was sold to Bulog and Agrintara for Rp 950 (US$0.19) per kilogram. Private companies pay Rp 1,337 per kg for CPO.
Sjarifudin said yesterday that the sale of CPO to Agrintara at the Bulog price from January to March this year would be suspended. Agrintara must now buy CPO at commercial prices.
"I am happy to inform you that the allocations given (at the Bulog price) to Agrintara in the January to March period were to help stabilize domestic cooking oil prices," he told House members before the hearing.
"Since then, Agrintara has asked me to no longer allocate (CPO) to it at a special price, but insists on buying it at market prices like all other refineries in the country," he said.
He refuted the allegation that Agrintara had been exporting the CPO from the Joint Marketing Board, neglecting the domestic market and reducing Bulog's buffer-stock of CPO.
"I have not received reports of such exports," Sjarifudin said.
Agrintara was set up as a holding company for downstream industrial plants in December 1992 by the 26 state-owned plantation companies, before they were merged into 14 corporations in March.
In February 1993, Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad allowed Agrintara to become a quasi-private company to increase management autonomy and operational flexibility. The change released it from the arduous procurement procedures imposed on state companies.
This ruling has led to a differences over which agency may audit the company. Earlier this year, Agrintara refused to be audited by the Development and Finance Comptroller, arguing that it was no longer a state entity. (pwn)