S

tate oil and gas company PT Pertamina has claimed that it stopped supplying fuel more than a year ago to a non-commissioned police officer, who has been charged with gaining illicit funds through illegal logging and fuel businesses.

Graft suspect Adj. First Insp. Labora Sitorus insists, however, that he obtained 1 million liters of fuel
legally.

'Labora last bought fuel from us in March 2012, and during that year he only bought 300,000 liters of fuel,' Pertamina Region VII Maluku and Papua operations marketing general manager Mohammad Irfan told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He declined to comment on whether or not the fuel in Labora's possession was illegal, despite claiming that Pertamina had stopped supplying the fuel.

'We don't know where the 1 million liters of fuel seized by police came from. It is not for us to comment on the matter,' Irfan said. 'But we have not supplied fuel to him since March 2012. The last fuel consignment to him was fuel at market price.'

Pertamina deleted Labora's company from its list of partners in Oct. 2012 for failing to reach the sales target.

'According to the agreement, Labora's company should have sold 300,000 liters of fuel per month, but it only managed to sell 300,000 liters of fuel throughout 2012,' said Irfan.

Labora, an officer with the Raja Ampat Police in West Papua, was discovered to have a bank account with funds amounting to Rp 1.5 trillion (US$150 million). He is currently being held at Papua Police headquarters in Jayapura while awaiting due process.

He was named a suspect for being in possession of 1 million liters of allegedly illegal fuel and for his involvement in illegal logging as well as money laundering.

The Papua Police have also named as suspects two men linked with PT Rotua, which managed Labora's timber business, and PT Senio Adi Wijaya, which managed Labora's fuel business.