Police Name Mining Tycoon Samin Tan a Suspect in Fuel Corruption Case, State Losses at Rp486 Billion

The National Police’s Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortastipidkor) has named mining entrepreneur Samin Tan and three former senior officials of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga (PPN) as suspects in an alleged corruption case involving the sale and purchase of fuel with PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup (AKT). Samin Tan was named a suspect in his capacity as the boss and shareholder of PT AKT. The three former Pertamina Patra Niaga executives are Sidhi Widiyawan, Marketing Director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga for the 2008-2011 period; JI, Vice President of Eastern Region Sales for the 2009-2013 period; and WTD, General Manager of Treasury and Vice President of Treasury at PT Pertamina Patra Niaga. “Based on valid and sufficient evidence as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code, investigators have named four suspects,” said Kortastipidkor Police Operations Head, Senior Commissioner Ahmad Yusuf Afandi, at National Police Headquarters on Tuesday. This legal status for Samin Tan ensnares him three months after he was named a suspect by the Attorney General’s Office in a case of alleged illegal coal mining and management by PT AKT. Yusuf explained that the fuel trading corruption case under police investigation originated from a sales cooperation agreement for High Speed Diesel (HSD) between PT PPN and PT AKT. The cooperation utilised a payment mechanism through a Letter of Credit (L/C) or Domestic Documentary Credit (SKBDN). In its course, PT AKT repeatedly experienced delays and even defaulted on payments. However, the three former PT PPN officials did not halt fuel distribution or take appropriate risk mitigation measures. “Even though payment obligations had not been fulfilled, fuel shipments continued to be made to PT AKT,” Yusuf stated. Instead, a series of policy changes were made through contract addendums that increasingly benefited PT AKT. “These changes included granting additional fuel distribution volumes, providing price discounts, removing penalty clauses for late payment, and changing the payment mechanism from a guaranteed system to merely a 25 per cent down payment without any payment guarantee,” Yusuf said. Furthermore, the internal supervision mechanism and billing process were allegedly deliberately not carried out according to regulations. The agreement was not reported hierarchically to superiors, rendering the company’s receivables monitoring process ineffective. Yusuf stated that through this series of actions, PT AKT obtained a very large fuel sales financing facility without adequate guarantees, while the entire risk of loss was transferred to PT Pertamina Patra Niaga as a state-owned enterprise. “As a result, from a total distribution of approximately 191.37 million litres of fuel worth USD 137.29 million, there were unmet payment obligations, which, based on the BPK RI’s investigative audit, resulted in state financial losses of USD 30,370,958.61, or an estimated equivalent of around Rp486 billion,” he said. In this case, investigators have examined 88 witnesses and three experts, and conducted searches at five locations. They also seized various documents, electronic evidence, and cash amounting to Rp2,362,281,000. “Currently, investigators are still conducting further examinations of witnesses and suspects, carrying out asset tracing, completing case files, and coordinating with Public Prosecutors for the subsequent legal process,” Yusuf said. Meanwhile, Kortastipidkor Police Sub-Directorate I Head, Senior Commissioner Danny H. Ardiantara B. Sianipar, stated that the suspects have not been detained, particularly as suspect JI is still serving a four-year prison sentence for another corruption case. “After the suspect determination, to date we have not encountered any obstacles in completing our investigation. We have not yet detained these four suspects,” he said. In this case, the suspects are charged under Article 2 paragraph (1) and/or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001, in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the old Criminal Code or Article 603 and/or Article 604 in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code.