JAKARTA: Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a former president commissioner of state-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina, has alleged that more people are involved in the firm’s fuel import scandal than have been publicly identified and that he would be eager to cooperate with investigators to rid the oil and gas sector of corruption.
Basuki, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who served as Pertamina president commissioner from 2019 to 2024, said that it would have taken more than just the people the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) had named suspects in the graft case to cover up the Rp 193.7 trillion (US$11.9 billion) in state losses.
“This case is more than just Riva Siahaan. I think people from the Supreme Audit Agency [BPK] could also be involved,” Basuki said in a podcast uploaded by media company Narasi on Friday.
“There are powerful hands at play. The case could [implicate] a wide [array of people] if it can be thoroughly investigated.”
Basuki was referring to Riva, the president director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga, who was among the six executives at three Pertamina subsidiaries the AGO named graft suspects last week.
Authorities also arrested three people from two private oil and gas companies, including Kerry Adrianto, the son of oil tycoon Riza Chalid.
The suspects allegedly manipulated Pertamina’s oil import and export deals from 2018 to 2023 by reducing refinery output to force imports through rigged tenders with inflated prices, as well as procuring lower-octane subsidised gasoline to be sold fraudulently as a more expensive brand.
Basuki went on to suggest that there could be more corruption going on within Pertamina that had yet to be discovered, particularly since higher-ups had resisted his attempts to introduce a more transparent management system while serving as president commissioner.
As an example, Basuki said that one of his first recommendations was for Pertamina to use the National Public Procurement Agency’s (LKPP) e-catalogue system for its procurement of goods and services.
But the plan was met with reluctance from company higher-ups, who, according to Basuki, stalled the adoption for years.
“I did my best for Pertamina. Why was I unable to root out all [the corrupt higher-ups]? Had I been positioned as president director, I would have fired them on a weekly basis,” Basuki said of his time at the company.
In a separate podcast uploaded by news outlet Liputan6 on Saturday, Basuki said he was more than willing to cooperate with the AGO if it summoned him for questioning and to take the witness stand in the eventual trials of the nine suspects.
“I would be delighted if the AGO summoned me. I have recordings of all the meetings I attended [during my time at Pertamina]. I only ask that the trials be made public so that every Indonesian can hear [through my recordings] what was really going on in Pertamina,” he said.
The director of investigations at the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Extraordinary Crimes (Jampidsus), Abdul Qohar, said investigators would summon “whoever is connected to the case” as witnesses.
"Whether based on statements from other witnesses or based on documents or other evidence, we will definitely summon anyone [with connections to the case] to ask for their statements, whoever they are," Abdul said in a press conference on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
