Pertamina's former director of refining and former vice president are among those accused.
Highlighting corruption in Indonesia’s oil and gas sector, former senior executives at state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina and the former director of oil and gas at the Energy Ministry have been implicated in a bribery case, according to documents from a British court.
On Thursday, Innospec Ltd., the British arm of international chemicals company Innospec Inc., pleaded guilty to bribing Indonesian executives and officials in Britain’s Southwark Crown Court.
The Indonesians implicated in the case, according to the British court documents, are: Rahmat Sudibyo, director general of oil and gas at the Energy Ministry in 2001-02 and head of upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas from 2002-04; Suroso Atmomartoyo, Pertamina’s director of refining from 2004-08; and Mistiko Saleh, Pertamina’s vice president from 2004-06.
Transparency International Indonesia brought the case to the attention of local media on Friday, calling a press conference and circulating copies of the British court documents.
TII secretary general Teten Masduki said he had sent a letter to Pertamina president director Karen Agustiawan urging her to report the case to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Teten said he had also urged BPMigas to do the same to help eliminate corruption in the oil and gas sector.
The British court ruled that between February 2002 and December 2006, Innospec Ltd. paid bribes to ensure that its lead-based fuel additive, tetraethyl lead (TEL), was chosen for purchase over other unleaded alternatives. An Indonesia government regulation banning the use of TEL was issued in 1999 but did not take effect until 2006.
According to court documents, the bribes were paid from $17.48 million in commissions that Innospec paid its local agent, PT Soegih Interjaya.
Rahmat rejected the allegation when contacted by the Jakarta Globe on Friday, saying he had never been involved in the purchase of TEL from Innospec.
Suroso also denied any involvement in bribery.
“I was the one who ordered that we stop purchasing TEL from Innospec in 2006, so clearly I was not involved in the case,” he said.
Firdaus Ilyas, of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the case was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of corruption in the country’s oil and gas sector.
“That is why it needs to be further investigated quickly by the KPK,” Firdaus said.
Teten said that if Pertamina failed to report the case to the KPK, TII planned to launch cases against the implicated executives and officials in domestic courts.
Pertamina spokesman Basuki Trikora Putra said on Friday that the company still needed time to study the case before deciding what action it might take.
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