Disadvantaged By Oplosan Fuel, Let's File A Class Action Lawsuit To Pertamina

President Director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Riva Siahaan after being named a suspect in the alleged corruption case of crude oil management and refinery products at the Attorney General's Office, Jakarta, February 25, 2025. (ANTARA/Rivan Awal Lingga)

JAKARTA The case of alleged corruption in oil imports revealed by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) recently caused a stir in the community. Energy economy observer at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Fahmyxi said this corruption is not only detrimental to the state, but has robbed millions of people who are Pertamax consumers.

This corruption case has dragged seven suspects from the ranks of Pertamina's subsidiary directors and the private sector. The seven suspects are the President Director of Pertamina Patra Niaga Riva Siahaan (RS), Director of Optimization of Feedstock & Products of PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional (KPI) Sani Dinar Saifuddin (SDS), Director of PT Pertamina Internasional Shipping Yoki Firnandi (YK), and Vice President Feedstock Management of PT KPI Agus Purwono (AP).

The other suspects are Dimas Werhaspati as Commissioner of PT Navigator Khatulistiwa and Commissioner of PT Jenggala Maritim, Muhammad Kerry Andrianto Riza as Beneficiary Owner of PT Navigator Khatulistiwa, and Gading Ramadhan Joedo as Commissioner of PT Jengga Maritim and Director of PT Orbit Terminal Merak.

The two new suspects named by the AGO are Maya Kusmaya as Director of Central and Commercial Marketing of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga and Edward Corne as VP of Trading for Pertamina Patra Niaga Products.

The AGO stated that there were allegations of mixing fuel in the corruption case of oil governance and refinery products at PT Pertamina, Subholding, and Cooperation Contract Contractors (KKKS) in 2018-2023.

President Director of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Riva Siahaan is suspected of buying petroleum with a quality RON 90 (Research Octan Number) or equivalent to Pertalite and below. Then this is reprocessed in depot, but sold for type RON 92 (Pertamax).

"Some of these unlawful acts have resulted in state financial losses of around Rp. 193.7 trillion," said the Director of Investigation at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Attorney General's Office, Abdul Qohar, at the Jakarta AGO Building, Monday (24/2/2025).

The corruption case of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga really disappointed the public. UGM energy economy observer Fahmy Goodhi said this corruption not only cost the state up to almost Rp200 trillion, but also robbed millions of people who became Pertamax consumers.

How not, the people who deliberately gave Pertamax actually got mixed fuel. Fahmy said, people felt cheated after this case was uncovered.

Moreover, the modus operandi is to import crude and fuel oil, as well as upgrade from Pertalite (Ron 90) to Pertamax (Ron 92).

"In practice, domestically produced crude oil is refused to be processed at the Pertamina refinery on the grounds that the specifications are not in accordance with the qualifications of the Pertamina refinery, so it must import crude oil to be processed at domestic refineries," said Fahmy.

"With the reason that the refinery capacity does not meet, fuel must still be imported in large quantities. The import price of crude oil and fuel has been marked up so that it is detrimental to state finances that have to pay more expensive imports," he continued.

Not only that, Fahmy also said that inflations were also carried out on shipping orshipping contracts with an additional illegal cost of 13 percent to 15 percent. That's why, corruption crimes not only rob the state's money, but also harm the community.

Pertamina Patra Niaga's spokesman denied Pertamax's allegations of mixing. He also guarantees the quality of Pertamax in accordance with the specifications set by the government, namely RON 92.

"So it's not mixing or changing the RON. People don't have to worry about the quality of Pertamax," explained Pertamina Patra Niaga's Corporate Secretary, Heppy Wulansari, in an official statement on Tuesday (25/2).

But the people are disappointed. Pertamina's rebuttal was not accepted just like that. Not only that, last year also had a viral complaint from netizens because the vehicle engine was damaged. At that time it was suspected that the fuel used was not of good quality.

After Pertamina's corruption case surfaced with the estimated loss value of nearly Rp1 trillion from 2018 to 2023, the public linked last year's incident to what is happening now. Could the sudden engine failure be due to Pertamax oplosan?

Warganet also began to voice plans to demand compensation to Pertamina.

"We as consumers who are harmed must get compensation, imagine vehicles that should use first hand, it turns out that the contents are mixed, how about the potential for damage to our vehicles, we just protested last year and changed filters," said the user of social media X.

The chairman of the Indonesian Consumer Community said that consumer concerns are something that is natural with the issue of this Pertamax oplosan. According to him, consumers are entitled to the quality of the goods they buy according to the price, as stated in the Consumer Protection Act.

This is also a matter of safety. If for example the car broke down on the toll road, then there was an accident, it was difficult too. This is just an illustration," said David.

David added that every consumer has the right to file a lawsuit, even though the results (of the lawsuit) are also determined by the evidence submitted by consumers.

"So, my advice, before suing, is to wait for the results of internal and external investigations so that they are not premature," he added.

David emphasized that his party as a representative of Indonesian consumers urged Pertamina as the producer of Pertamax and Pertalite "must provide the full clarification and explanation of this matter".

Meanwhile, criminal law observer Masykur Isnan said that in this case, it was proven that consumer rights had been violated, including the right to disclosure of product information, choosing products according to exchange rates, procurements or product conditions and guarantees for products.

From this case, according to Isnan, there is a more fatal potential, namely the emergence of public distrust of products produced by the government, which is very likely to spread to other products.

Regarding losses, consumers have the right to sue and ask PT Pertamina for compensation through a lawsuit mechanism that has been regulated in the Consumer Protection Law (UUPK).

"The lawsuit together (class action) due to the same loss can be an option, without neglecting the ongoing criminal law process," Isnan told VOI.

On the other hand, Masykur Inan encourages the government to be more active, be it BPKN (National Consumer Protection Agency) and related technical ministries (Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and SOEs) to handle and make future improvements as soon as possible.

"Public trust in protecting citizens' rights to the government is being tested," he concluded.