T

he Indonesian Military (TNI) commander, Gen. Moeldoko, has confirmed that he had a meeting with the former head of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas), Rudi Rubiandini.

Moeldoko said that the meeting was to discuss possible cooperation between the TNI and SKKMigas.

The TNI commander said initially the meeting was casual. '€œAs a fellow Muslim, he wanted to meet me so I welcomed him,'€ Moeldoko said on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co.

He added that as the meeting progressed, it began to discuss serious issues.

Moeldoko said that during the meeting Rudi sought cooperation with the TNI especially in securing vital assets controlled by SKKMigas. He said Rudi wanted to emulate the deal state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina'€™s director, Karen Agustiawan, had earlier struck with the TNI to safeguard its strategic assets.

The TNI commander said that he agreed to Rudi'€™s proposal as it would be consistent with the military'€™s role in safeguarding vital national assets as well as preventing conflicts with locals during the exploration for natural resources.

'€œWe'€™ve conducted the [Pertamina] project according to our territorial approach, and it has been effective. But unfortunately, the cooperation between SKKMigas and TNI did not materialize. He [Rudi] was arrested by the KPK before we could proceed further,'€ he said.

Moeldoko said the meeting took place when he was still chief of staff of the Army. President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono installed Moeldoko as the new military commander on Aug. 29. Moeldoko replaced Adm. Agus Suhartono, who retired on Sept. 1.

Moeldoko was dragged into the SKKMigas bribery case after his name was mentioned in the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) dossier on Rudi. In the dossier, Rudi claimed that he once had a meeting with Moeldoko.

On Monday, KPK chairman Abraham Samad said that investigators from the antigraft body would verify Rudi'€™s claim with statements from other witnesses.

'€œWe need to synchronize the information with that of others,'€ he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the House of Representatives Commission II overseeing domestic governance.

Abraham also said that the KPK had no plans to summon Moeldoko in the near future. '€œHowever, if we find information linking Moeldoko to the case, we will definitely summon him,'€ Abraham said.

The SKKMigas graft case has also implicated other political big-wigs including secretary-general of the Democratic Party and son of President Yudhoyono, Eddhie '€œIbas'€ Baskoro Yudhoyono.

In a trial session last week, graft defendant Deviardi, a golf trainer who dabbled as a middleman and confidante of Rudi, recalled a conversation with Widodo Ratanachaithong, president director of Singapore-based oil trading
company Kernel Oil Pte. Ltd., in which the oil executive, who is alleged to have bribed Rudi, claimed that he had close ties with the State Palace.

The dossier on Deviardi also revealed that Ibas would be happy if Rudi struck a deal with Widodo.