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AGO prosecutes Pertamina workers for fuel smuggling

Attorney Generals Office (AGO) prosecutors have announced the completion of dossiers on five people who had allegedly run a subsidized-fuel smuggling ring since 2008

Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, December 24, 2014

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AGO prosecutes Pertamina workers for fuel smuggling

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ttorney Generals Office (AGO) prosecutors have announced the completion of dossiers on five people who had allegedly run a subsidized-fuel smuggling ring since 2008.

The National Police'€™s economics and special crimes director, Brig. Gen. Kamil Razak, told reporters on Tuesday that the five dossiers were completed in November and early December.

'€œVessel charter-firm owner AM [Achmad '€œAbop'€ Machbub] was the mastermind of the smuggling ring with the help of several others,'€ he said during a press conference at the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) headquarters in Jakarta.

Kamil said investigators also found that Abop with help from Yusri, a senior supervisor of state-owned oil and gas enterprise Pertamina in Dumai, Riau, were the brains behind the smuggling ring, which transported the subsidized fuel ship-to-ship from Riau Islands to ships passing through international waters just off Riau.

The fuel was sold below the market price '€” gasoline was sold at Rp 3,500 (US 28 cents) per liter while diesel was sold at Rp 4,500.

The two men also enlisted the help of two temporary workers employed by the Navy, identified as Du Nun and Aripin Ahmad.

Du Nun and Yusri allegedly assisted Abop'€™s vessels to illegally load the subsidized fuel from offshore Pertamina tankers four times a month between from 2008 and 2013.

Abop'€™s sister Niwen Khairiah, a junior civil servant, was also allegedly in on the plot. Kamil said that Niwen, with the help of Aripin, converted the illicit proceeds into Singaporean dollars and rupiah and distributed the cash to members of the ring.

'€œWe'€™ve confiscated her two currency-exchange companies in Batam where she converted the illicit profits,'€ Kamil said.

According to a PPATK report, Niwen logged banking transactions worth Rp 1.3 trillion ($104.3 million) between 2008 and 2013.

Investigators have also confiscated 65 permits for buildings and plots of land in Bengkalis, and Rp 3.04 billion, $17,348 and SG$96,585 in cash among items from all five suspects as evidence in the case.

The evidence, along with the dossiers, had all been handed over to prosecutors by Dec. 11.

Also at the press conference, PPATK chairman Muhammad Yusuf suggested that the AGO should auction off the confiscated evidence as soon as possible before their values decreased.

All five suspects are currently still in custody and could face a maximum 20-year prison sentence under the 2001 Corruption Law, the 2010 Money Laundering Law and the Criminal Code.

'€œSince we first arrested the five suspects in September, we have also recently arrested another suspect who is still under investigation,'€ Kamil said.

He said the latest suspect, Deki Bermana, also worked at Pertamina. Kamil added that the police had yet to discuss the case with Pertamina.

During Yusri'€™s questioning, he allegedly confessed that he and Abop had designed the plans and none of his supervisors were involved.

'€œHowever, we are not ruling out the possibility that there were more than six people involved,'€ he said.

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