Pertamina unit hit by fraud

Pertamina unit hit by fraud

Pertamina is investigating a possible fraud case at its crude oil trading arm in Singapore, company president Ariffi Nawawi said on Wednesday.

Ariffi said the investigation was launched after an audit earlier this year found illegal disbursements of funds amounting to US$8.2 million from its Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd. (Petral).

"We have questioned the board of directors and replaced them. We are waiting the results of the investigation by Singapore's police, and also to get the money back," Ariffi told reporters.

Pertamina has been struggling to clean up corruption, which had been notorious, especially over the past three decades.

Petral has the concession to import oil for Indonesia from Singapore. The company is required to make a deposit in a Singapore bank when carrying out its transactions. During a six- month period in 2002 when the rupiah appreciated strongly against the U.S. dollar, Petral obtained gains from the currency appreciation. However, these gains were later allegedly disbursed by a Petral officer to another party.

According to Ariffi, the perpetrator may have forged the signature of one of Petral's directors in order to disburse the funds. -- JP