Pertamina criticized over Sempati Air's fuel debts
Pertamina criticized over Sempati Air's fuel debts
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned oil company Pertamina was criticized
yesterday by legislators for allowing private airline company
Sempati Air to fall behind in paying its debts for the
procurement of aviation fuel.
The legislators, including Iskandar Mandji and Suriansjah of
Golkar and Bachtiar Chamsjah of the United Development Party,
said Pertamina should have stopped supplying aviation turbine oil
to Sempati Air after the airline erred on paying its debts.
"Where is justice if Pertamina as a state owned company gives
special treatment dispensation to a private firm but punishes
(state owned electricity company) PLN for not paying its debts on
time?" Suriansjah said.
Pertamina had once stopped supplying diesel oil to PLN because
it fell behind in settling its debts, which caused PLN to reduce
power supply to consumers, said Iskandar.
Debate
The debate started yesterday when Iskandar asked why Sempati
Air had been allowed to owe so much money to Pertamina for such a
long time without any penalty.
Pertamina's president director Feisal Abda'oe was first
reluctant to confirm if the airline company, jointly owned by
Hutomo Mandala Putra, Mohammad (Bob) Hasan and an Army-related
foundation, had owed debts to Pertamina.
"Actually, it is not entirely accurate to say that it (Sempati
Air) did not pay its debt. Sometimes it made the payment as
scheduled, sometimes not," said Feisal.
He said that other airlines, including Garuda, also sometimes
fell behind in settling its fuel debts to Pertamina.
"But at least, you should tell us how much the airline
(Sempati Air) currently owes to Pertamina," said Iskandar.
Feisal refused to reveal Sempati's fuel debts, saying he would
send the House members information on the debts later.
According to Feisal, the contracts between Pertamina, Sempati
and other airlines require the payment of aviation fuel one month
after delivery.
Feisal said Pertamina served warning to the airlines if they
failed to pay their fuel as scheduled. He said that no punishment
was imposed on erring airlines.
"If Pertamina stops supplying fuel to the airlines, they will
have to stop operation. Are you ready to have no domestic flights
at all?" asked Feisal.
"If you are ready, we shall soon stop supplying gas to any
erring airlines. But we shall tell the people that the measure is
taken at the request of legislators," Feisal added.
"I still recommend you to stop it (the supply of aviation gas
to Sempati Air)," said Bachtiar.
"We don't mind if there are no flights for a week," said
Surjansah. (jsk)