22 May 2013, News Wires – A Chevron executive working for the US supermajor in Indonesia has been re-arrested as part of a probe into alleged corruption in an environmental project at an oilfield, a report has claimed.
PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (PT CPI) executive Bachtiar Abdul was arrested by the attorney general’s office on Friday, Reuters reported, citing a spokesperson at the office.
Bachtiar was one of four Chevron executives arrested in late September as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption involving a clean-up effort at the Duri oilfield in Sumatra.
The office has alleged that the project, which was designed to restore soil quality after drilling by PT CPI, had not been carried out properly and that two local contractors – Green Planet Indonesia and Sumi Gita Jaya – were not appointed in the correct manner.
A November court order cleared Bachtiar of wrongdoing and ordered his release. However, the attorney general’s office has acted in contravention of that order.
Reuters cited office spokesperson Setia Untung as saying Bachtiar was accused of abusing his authority, breaking the law and causing financial losses to the state.
A note sent by PT CPI to Upstream in September read: “To date, all costs relating to the ongoing PT CPI-operated bioremediation project have been carried by PT CPI… no state funds have been used for this project,” the company stated.
It added that the issue should have been handled within the oil and gas industry regulatory framework under the terms of the production sharing contract, rather than the attorney general.