Pertamina And Polri Dismantle Subsidized Solar Mafia In East Java

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Pertamina Patra Niaga Jatimbalinus together with the National Police Headquarters and the East Java Regional Police revealed the practice of misappropriating fuel subsidies in East Java.

Director of Tipidter Bareskrim Police Headquarters Brigadier General Pol Hersadwi Rusdiyono confirmed that this collaboration succeeded in uncovering 166 tons of subsidized fuel hoarding by AW who acted as the capital owner.

The modus operandi is to buy Solar Subsidy at gas stations with various nopol to be stockpiled and resold to industry at a cheaper price than Solar Non-Subsidy.

"The suspect AW admitted that he had abused the Solar Subsidy since 2016 but had stopped being a timber business and then continued to return in 2021. Meanwhile, 3 suspects were arrested whose respective roles were investors, financial managers and truck drivers," he said, quoted Thursday, July 13.

Pertamina Patra Niaga Executive GM Jatimbalinus Dwi Puja Arestya said that Pertamina appreciated the National Police in disclosing this case.

In this case, Pertamina synergizes with the police, namely after obtaining accurate information in the field, Pertamina's security function provides information feed to the Police for further investigation and development of cases.

"Pertamina in the last 2 years has tried and focused on developing the IT system to minimize the practice of misuse of fuel distribution at our level. Especially in the diesel sector which is prone to misappropriation to the Industrial sector, a transaction system has been implemented using a QR Code that we all know about," he explained.

On the basis of this case, then for evidence in the form of a nopol and a QR Code used for this case, the system has been blocked.

"This means that the QR Code and the nopol can no longer transact diesel," added Ari.

Ari explained, in this case, actually not only the people who are harmed but also the state.

Pertamina will also continue to support the legal process that is being carried out and if there are individuals at the gas station involved, they will impose sanctions in accordance with applicable regulations.

"We also urge consumers not to abuse subsidized fuel because severe criminal sanctions will await," he said.

Vice President of Corporate Communication of PT Pertamina (Persero), Fadjar Djoko Santoso explained that Pertamina continues to strive so that the distribution of subsidized fuel is right on target. One of them is through the use of digital technology such as QR Code so that the implementation of targeted subsidies can be more measurable and transparent.

"This is our joint effort together with the government to distribute Subsidized Fuel so that it is right on target for those who are entitled. We also continue to invite people who can afford to use Non-Subsidized Fuel," concluded Fadjar.