Pertamina worries about loss of unguarded evidence

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State oil and gas company Pertamina asked the police on Saturday to speed up the legal processing of fuel hoarding cases as it feared any further delay could result in a loss or alteration of the evidence, which, in turn, would hamper the legal processing.

"We've asked the police to expedite the legal proceedings so as to reduce the massive amount of confiscated fuel at our depots," said general manager of Pertamina marketing unit III overseeing fuel supply in East Java, Jakarta and Banten provinces Sumarsono.

He complained that Pertamina was facing difficulties in managing thousands of tons of confiscated fuel now stockpiled at the company's depots in Plumpang, North Jakarta and Merak, Banten province.

"The confiscated fuel has taken up a lot of space normally used for our stock. We cannot afford to keep it for so long," he told The Jakarta Post.

"We cannot do anything with the evidence while the legal processing drags on. We cannot mix it with our own fuel, so larger holding tanks are needed for it," he said.

Legal expert at the University of Indonesia Topo Susanto voiced similar concerns that the police had to safeguard all of the evidence while it pursued the legal proceedings.

"The police must cooperate with the prosecutors in dealing with the confiscated fuel," Topo said.

She warned that should the amount of fuel being stored as evidence reduce, that could weaken the case in court.

She added that an accelerated procedure was therefore needed to avoid any loss or alteration of the evidence.

Sumarsono said the police, however, had not yet given a response to Pertamina's request.

Pertamina and the police have intensively been cracking down on fuel hoarding, confiscating some 11.6 kiloliters of diesel fuel and 54.9 kiloliters of kerosene from several locations around Greater Jakarta.

All the confiscated fuel was now stored at the Plumpang and Merak depots, along with eight tanker trucks.

Chief of the procurement department at Pertamina Unit III T.T. Situmorang said that much of the confiscated fuel remained in situ as it was impossible to transport it.

"Much of the evidence has been left at the places where it was discovered originally, sealed off by police tape," said T.T. Situmorang.

Situmorang, however, warned that this evidence could disappear through evaporation or theft as it had been left unguarded by police.

Meanwhile, chief of detectives for special crimes Adj. Sr. Comr. Ike Edwin said that how the evidence was dealt with was Pertamina's responsibility.

"The police are merely working to Pertamina's requests," Ike said.

Meanwhile, according to Ike, the police and Pertamina would continue to raid suspected fuel hoards in Greater Jakarta.