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State SOE Minister for State-Owned Enterprises Warns Pertamina BOD
Wednesday, 14 September, 2005 | 21:24 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:State Minister for State Owned Enterprises (SOE) Sugiharto has said he considers that members of the Board of Directors (BOD) of the state owned oil & gas company Pertamina have failed to carry out better monitoring and control systems within the company in relation to oil smuggling cases.

Because of this, Sugiharto has delivered a warning letter to Pertamina directors.

“I already sent them a letter yesterday, (as decided) during a senior officials’ meeting at the Office of the State SOE Minister to warn them and at the same time to remind them of their responsibilities as directors,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday (13/09).

The warning was given because there have been many cases of fuel smuggling, looting, illegal mixing and misuse of authority for years without any acknowledgement from Pertamina’s directors.

“This failure of the system indicates the quality of the current management of Pertamina,” said Sugiharto.

As a consequence, the State MInister for SOE will immediately review the members of Pertamina’s BOD and even speed up the replacement of directors.

“There is the possibility that the process of changing the management, as stipulated by the President and the Vice President, will be sped up,” Sugiharto stated.

However, he refused to reveal whether or not fuel smuggling cases, in particular those that took place in Lawe-Lawe and Balikpapan, were the main reasons why directors should be replaced.

“It is more than that. We are looking at overall work performance. Has any added value been achieved during this last year?,” said Sugiharto.
(Tito Sianipar-Tempo News Room)