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