Laksamana Sukardi's Memoir, Revealing State Crimes in Tanker Sales Case

JAKARTA - In 2007 there was an incident that really shocked the world of Indonesian law, namely the investigation into the sale of two VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) units or Pertamina tankers by the Indonesian Attorney General's Office.

Former Minister of BUMN and Commissioner of Pertamina Ir. Laksamana Sukardi was "accused" of being the mastermind behind the sale of the tanker, which allegedly cost the state tens of millions of dollars. Investigating the case of the sale of the tanker  is one of the recommendations of the DPR RI Special Committee which was ratified at the Plenary Session on January 16 2007.

State Losses

The case of the sale of two tanker units by PT Pertamina was initially investigated by the KPK since 2004. Then at the Commission III Working Meeting with the KPK on January 22 2007, it was reported that the institution led by Taufiequrachman Ruki had not succeeded in proving that there was an element of personal enrichment and state loss, because there is no market price or reasonable comparison for VLCC ships; So the handling of the case cannot be escalated to investigation.

The sale of the Pertamina tanker was then investigated by the KPPU, then brought to the DPR RI Special Committee. The case ended after the Supreme Court issued a decision. Members of the DPR praised the Attorney General's Office for acting quickly in investigating the VLCC case by taking over the case from the KPK. Therefore, the Attorney General's Office received praise and the Corruption Eradication Commission was criticized because it was deemed incapable of handling this case.

Before it fell to the DPR Special Committee and was then handled by the Attorney General's Office, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) had already questioned it. In its decision, the KPPU stated that there were state losses ranging from US$20 million to US$56 million, or the equivalent of IDR 180 billion to IDR 504 billion.

The case was finally closed by the Indonesian Attorney General's Office, after the Attorney General's Office, through the Decision of the Judicial Review Panel, annulled the Supreme Court (MA) cassation decision.

Thus, the KPPU's decision was declared wrong. Automatically, the DPR RI VLCC decision which is based on the KPPU decision also has no legal validity. The Supreme Court stated that in the Judicial Review Decision which tried itself, there was no violation of the law and there was no loss to the state. The state actually benefited by US$53.2 million.

A detailed explanation of the background and legal process related to the sale of the Pertamina tanker was written in Laksamana Sukardi's memoir, entitled "Belenggu Nalar". This 216 page book is published by Kompas, and will be launched in the near future.