KPK Affirms The Decision Of Former Pertamina President Director Karen Agustiawan At The LNG Project Is Not Pure Business

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said business decisions that were colored by fraudulent practices and collusion could not be justified. Moreover, the impact could have caused state finances.

This was conveyed by the Chairman of the KPK, Nawawi Pomolango, in response to the statement by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan who did not agree that business failures were equated as corrupt practices.

At that time, Luhut mentioned that there was a former boss of PT Pertamina (Persero) who had to deal with the law because of this problem.

"In the past, there was a case handling by the Attorney General's Office against the former Director of Pertamina, Mrs. Karen. There was then the decision product of the Supreme Court which was last, when the case was brought by the Attorney General's Office, it was declared what Mr. Luhut meant. But not all of that must be interpreted as such," Nawawi told reporters at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Saturday, August 17.

Nawawi said that the Karen case should be seen as a legal framework. "We really have to (understand, ed) what the real business is like, as intended by Mr. Luhut. Not all things like that," he said.

Moreover, continued Nawawi, many cases handled by the KPK, especially those that dragged the boss of a state-owned company, were proven to have occurred which caused state losses.

"And it was done on purpose," said Nawawi.

"For example, we call it a consequence rather than participating in the business of one business entity, it is very dangerous too," he continued.

Nawawi's statement was supported by various evidences pocketed from the investigation process. Among other things, Karen during the import liquified natural gas (LNG) purchase contract in 2014 gave approval and power to the Gas Director to sign a contract without the approval of other directors and commissioners and did not hold a general meeting of shareholders (GMS).

Then, Karen also asked for the position of Director of Holding Corpus Christi Liquefaction because PT Pertamina (Persero) had purchased LNG Import from the foreign company. However, the former boss of the state-owned company was finally given the position as Senior Advisor to the subsidiary.

Finally, the anti-corruption commission also obtained evidence of falsification of the board of directors' approval documents regarding the purchase of imported LNG from Corpus Christi Liquefaction on December 3, 2013. From only seven directors signed, it was later faked into nine.

Meanwhile, KPK spokesman Tessa Mahardhika Sugiarto said the verdict against Karen in the alleged corruption in the procurement of LNG was not the domain of his institution. The judge also could not simply impose a sentence and all evidence had been submitted.

The KPK's task in terms of prosecution has been completed because the judge is sure of all the evidence submitted at the trial. The task of the KPK to complete the decision is to strengthen prevention of how similar actions do not happen again, both in ministries and other institutions such as what happened at Pertamina," said the spokesman with the investigator's background.

The KPK is also not worried about developing the case that ensnared Karen. "We stand above the legal framework, there is evidence or not and we just strengthen it from that side," said Tessa.

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan previously encouraged SOEs to expand abroad to maintain national energy security. In fact, the legal umbrella is being prepared.

"This is also what we will do, which is ongoing now, to have a legal umbrella, for government entities when they expand abroad, you know, as well as PT. Pertamina and other companies," said Coordinating Minister Luhut in the 2024 Supply Chain and National Capacity Summit at JCC Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, August 14.

Luhut realized that there was a risk that occurred in the context of this business expansion, namely the emergence of losses. However, he did not agree if this was interpreted as a form of corruption.

For example, Luhut alluded to the legal case that ensnared the former President Director of Pertamina, Karen Agustiawan in the case of the procurement of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a refinery in the United States in 2011-2014. I also saw several problems, the former CEO of the company (Pertamina) was jailed twice," he said at the time.

"To be honest, I don't agree with that. Because in business, sometimes you can go down, sometimes you can go up. How can you defend your profits? Even marriages have risks," said Luhut.

This condition, continued Luhut, has also been conveyed in cabinet meetings. "So, something like this, you can't blame (business risk as, red) corruption. I don't agree with that. We have to audit something like this. I propose this too during cabinet meetings. I say it's unfair, unfair," he concluded.