Indonesia's Pertamina pledges to improve transparency following corruption allegations
JAKARTA, March 3 (Reuters) - Indonesia's state-owned energy company Pertamina on Monday publicly apologised and pledged to improve the firm's governance after five executives at its units were arrested over alleged corruption involving oil imports.
The Attorney General's Office last week arrested five executives at three units of Pertamina on charges of alleged corruption related to oil imports between 2018 and 2023 that caused $12 billion in state losses.
"We will fix the loopholes that (the AGO) found, so that it would not affect the company or state budget negatively," Pertamina CEO Simon Aloysius Mantiri told reporters.
The company would work with the energy ministry to improve transparency, and continue to import crude oil and refined products to ensure energy security, he said.
Three executives at three of Pertamina's subsidiaries were accused of colluding to justify higher crude oil and fuel imports volumes instead of sourcing them domestically, as required.
Two other executives at Pertamina Patra Niaga allegedly approved the importation of 90-octane gasoline, known as Pertalite, at the price of higher-quality 92-octane gasoline, known as Pertamax.
Both also face charges of approving a decision to blend 88-octane gasoline, known as Premium, with Pertamax, which was then sold at the price of higher-octane fuel.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
8 hours ago
- NBC News
Apple sued by shareholders for allegedly overstating AI progress
(Reuters) — Apple was sued on Friday by shareholders in a proposed securities fraud class action that accused it of downplaying how long it needed to integrate advanced artificial intelligence into its Siri voice assistant, hurting iPhone sales and its stock price. The complaint covers shareholders who suffered potentially hundreds of billions of dollars of losses in the year ending June 9, when Apple introduced several features and aesthetic improvements for its products but kept AI changes modest. Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CEO Tim Cook, Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh and former CFO Luca Maestri are also defendants in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court. Shareholders led by Eric Tucker said that at its June 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple led them to believe AI would be a key driver of iPhone 16 devices, when it launched Apple Intelligence to make Siri more powerful and user-friendly. But they said the Cupertino, California-based company lacked a functional prototype of AI-based Siri features, and could not reasonably believe the features would ever be ready for iPhone 16s. Shareholders said the truth began to emerge on March 7 when Apple delayed some Siri upgrades to 2026, and continued through this year's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9 when Apple's assessment of its AI progress disappointed analysts. Apple shares have lost nearly one-fourth of their value since their December 26, 2024 record high, wiping out approximately $900 billion of market value.
Reuters
10 hours ago
- Reuters
TRADING DAY On weekend war-watch again
ORLANDO, Florida, June 20 (Reuters) - - TRADING DAY Making sense of the forces driving global markets By Jamie McGeever, Markets Columnist I'd love to hear from you, so please reach out to me with comments at opens new tab. You can also follow me at @ReutersJamie and @ Cautious optimism around a possible de-escalation in the week-long war between Israel and Iran helped foster a relatively positive tone across world markets on Friday, lifting most stock markets and sealing oil's biggest decline in over a month. You'll note a high degree of equivocation there. President Donald Trump taking up to two weeks to decide on America's involvement offers no immediate clarity, even if he is open to direct talks, and negotiations between Iran's foreign minister and his European counterparts in Geneva are at the early stage. However, Wall Street didn't feel much of the earlier optimism on Friday. Tehran insists it will not talk directly to Washington about a new nuclear deal until Israel ceases its attacks. The bombing and retaliatory strikes continue. It's a fluid and fragile situation, but compared to a week ago when the conflict started, it's perhaps less bleak, which explains why many markets have regained their footing. It's worth remembering that Wall Street and world stocks earlier this week were a whisker away from their record highs. Developments in the war and on the diplomatic field over the weekend will go a long way to setting the tone for markets on Monday. And investors will continue to digest what was, in many ways, a pretty monumental week for central banks. To recap, the Federal Reserve took a hawkish turn in its projected interest rate path even though Chair Jerome Powell signaled policymakers are flying blind, while the Bank of Japan took a dovish turn in its balance sheet reduction plans. The Swiss National Bank cut rates to zero and admitted, albeit reluctantly, that rates could go negative, Norway's central bank delivered a surprise rate cut, and Brazil's central bank defied expectations by raising rates to the highest since 2006 and signaling it could tighten policy further. A raft of Fed officials are on the stump next week, and investors will be looking through the blizzard of headlines to see how the consensus stacks up against the new, less dovish 'dot plots'. Top of the bill will be Powell's semi-annual testimony to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. Fed Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC on Friday that a rate cut should be on the table next month because inflation is tame and unlikely to be boosted on a lasting basis by import tariffs. But Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin told Reuters in an interview there's no rush to cut rates because tariffs could indeed fuel inflation. What's more, the economy and labor market are holding up well right now. It's gone pretty quiet on the trade front, an indication that the Trump administration is finding it harder than it imagined to secure the dozens of trade deals it promised - Trump himself has said that China and Japan are "tough" in their negotiations. China is not blinking, and why should it? As CIBC economists point out, China holds all the cards when it comes to global rare earths and pharmaceuticals supply, the U.S. is a much smaller market for its exports than it used to be, and Beijing has a wider array of retaliatory tools at its disposal than it did in 2018. Last but not least, "the tolerance to pain in autocratic China is notably higher than in the (still) democratic US," they note. The next few weeks will be pivotal for markets as investors eye the half-year point, the July 9 expiry of Trump's pause on 'reciprocal' tariffs, and Trump's two-week window to decide on the level of U.S. involvement in the Iran-Israel war. This Week's Key Market Moves Chart of the Week Two charts again, and they are related. The first is from Goldman Sachs and shows wage pressures in the developed G10 countries noticeably cooling (admittedly from elevated levels). This helps explain the second, from economist Phil Suttle, which shows developed and emerging market interest rate paths are diverging sharply - interest rates are coming down in DM, not so in EM. How long will that divergence last? Here are some of the best things I read this week: What could move markets on Monday? Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. Trading Day is also sent by email every weekday morning. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.
Reuters
12 hours ago
- Reuters
LME imposes new restrictions on large positions
LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) has imposed new restrictions on large positions in nearby contracts, it said on Friday. The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, said its so-called "front-month lending rules" would take effect on Monday and be temporary.
