Fri, November 15, 2013

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/11/15/rudi-charged-with-money-laundering-assets-seized.html

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced on Thursday that former Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) head Rudi Rubiandini had been charged with money laundering.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that the antigraft body had found evidence indicating that Rudi had been involved in money laundering and would be charged under the 2010 Money Laundering Law.

As of Thursday, the KPK had seized some of Rudi’s assets, including a house in Tebet, South Jakarta, a BMW motorcycle and a Toyota Camry.

The KPK also seized US$350,000 from his safety deposit box at Bank Mandiri, as well as another $20,000 and S$60,000 and 180 grams of gold from a strong box in his office at SKKMigas.

The money is thought to be connected to an alleged bribery attempt by Singapore-based oil trading company Kernel Oil Pte. Ltd.

Rudi allegedly accepted S$200,000 and $900,000 in bribes from Kernel Oil president director Widodo Ratanachaithong through his golf coach, Deviardi, said to be a middleman in the case, in return for a pledge to allocate oil blocks to the company.

The KPK previously confiscated stashes of money thought to have come from other sources, igniting speculation that other companies had bribed their way into the country’s oil industry.

For example, after arresting Deviardi, the KPK found $200,000 at his house on Jl. Hortikultura in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, as well as $200,000 in the office of Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry secretary-general Waryono Karyo. 

Deviardi has also been charged with money laundering after he was named a suspect in the case.

One of the companies suspected to have bribed its way in is Parna Raya Group, whose head director Artha Meris Simbolon was grilled by KPK investigators for 12 hours on Wednesday.

Artha reportedly paid $500,000 in bribes to Rudi through Deviardi in four installments from January to August.

In exchange, Rudi was allegedly meant to lower the price of gas allocated to PT Kaltim Parna Industri, a company owned by Parna Raya Group.

Artha’s lawyer, Andika Yoedistira, denied the allegation, saying the company’s request for a price reduction was directed to the ministry, not to SKKMigas.

“We have never had business relations with SKKMigas,” he told reporters at the KPK headquarter in Kuningan, South Jakarta, after Artha’s questioning.

Andika said his client had never bribed officials at the ministry.

The KPK had started questioning witnesses in relation to Rudi’s money-laundering case on Thursday, including money changer PT Duta Putra Valutama staff members Sri Hendryanti, Nurlaila, Febri Firmansyah, Sopyan Hadi Wijaya, Ikhsan Rakhmatulloh and Topo Waspodo. 

In response to the money-laundering charge, Rudi’s lawyer, Rusdi A Bakar, said he had not been informed about the new allegation leveled against his client. 

Rusydi previously said the house seized by the KPK was owned by Rudi’s brother, not Rudi. He added that the house was bought using a loan from Deviardi.

In a development in the case, the Jakarta Corruption Court resumed on Thursday the trial of graft suspect Simon Gunawan Tanjaya, an executive at Kernel Oil who is suspected of acting as a courier between Rudi and Widodo.

During the hearing, it was claimed that Widodo contacted SKKMigas gas commercialization division head Popi Ahmad Nafis to ask him to help Kernel Oil obtain an oil block.