Modus Operandi of Tender Manipulation in the Petral Corruption Case

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has revealed the modus operandi of tender manipulation in the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of crude oil and refined products at Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd (Petral) from 2008 to 2015.

Director of Investigation for Special Crimes, Deputy Attorney General Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, explained that the case came to light when investigators discovered leaks of internal confidential information from Petral Energy Services (PES) regarding crude oil requirements.

In this case, the AGO has named seven suspects, including Mohammad Riza Chalid (MRC), the owner of the company, and IRW, the director of companies owned by Riza. Both are suspected of influencing the tenders for crude oil, refined products, and transportation.

“MRC and IRW communicated with procurement officials at both Petral and Pertamina,” Syarief stated in Jakarta on Thursday (9/4).

The tender manipulation also involved information on estimated prices, leading to mark-ups and inflated costs.

Other suspects from Pertamina, namely BBG, AGS, NRD, and MLY, issued guidelines that contradicted the minutes of the Pertamina board meeting, with the aim of accommodating Riza Chalid’s interests.

Another suspect from PES, assisted by company YR, agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding for the supply of refined products from 2012 to 2014.

The conditioned tenders resulted in higher crude oil prices, particularly for gasoline 88 (premium) and gasoline 92, causing losses to the state and PT Pertamina.