AGO says ministry's documents unlawful
Travel Ban Placed on Web Site Graft Company Executive
by Arientha Primanita
The Immigration Department has banned an executive of a company at the center of a corruption scandal at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights from traveling overseas, an official said on Thursday.
The travel ban on Hartono Tanoesoedibjo, a commissioner of PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika, was issued on Wednesday at the request of the Attorney General’s Office and will be in place for a year, said Agato Simamora, a spokesman for the Immigration Department.
Sarana is the company behind the Web site www.sisminbakum.com, which was set up to allow companies to register online with the government following an agreement with the ministry’s Directorate of Legal Administration.
The AGO alleges that the directorate channeled 90 percent of the revenue generated by the Web site to Sarana while the remaining 10 percent, intended for the state, went to officials at the ministry.
The Web site generated at least Rp 400 billion ($36.8 million) in fees since it first began operating in 2001.
Hartono and his brother, Bambang Rudijanto Tanoesoedibjo, both of whom are shareholders of Sarana, were questioned in November after the AGO summoned them three times.
Both Hartono and Bambang are commissioners of conglomerate PT Bhakti Investama, the holding company of Media Nusantara Citra, which runs a number of TV stations, including RCTI, SCTV and TPI.
The AGO has detained four suspects in connection with the Web site scandal.
They are Sarana’s president, Yohanes Waworuntu, and three former senior officials at the ministry - Zulkarnain Yunus, who is serving a 4-year sentence for another corruption case; Syamsudin Manan Sinaga, the former director general of public legal administration at the ministry; and Romli Atmasasmita, a law professor who helped draft the country’s anticorruption bill.
by Arientha Primanita
The Immigration Department has banned an executive of a company at the center of a corruption scandal at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights from traveling overseas, an official said on Thursday.
The travel ban on Hartono Tanoesoedibjo, a commissioner of PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika, was issued on Wednesday at the request of the Attorney General’s Office and will be in place for a year, said Agato Simamora, a spokesman for the Immigration Department.
Sarana is the company behind the Web site www.sisminbakum.com, which was set up to allow companies to register online with the government following an agreement with the ministry’s Directorate of Legal Administration.
The AGO alleges that the directorate channeled 90 percent of the revenue generated by the Web site to Sarana while the remaining 10 percent, intended for the state, went to officials at the ministry.
The Web site generated at least Rp 400 billion ($36.8 million) in fees since it first began operating in 2001.
Hartono and his brother, Bambang Rudijanto Tanoesoedibjo, both of whom are shareholders of Sarana, were questioned in November after the AGO summoned them three times.
Both Hartono and Bambang are commissioners of conglomerate PT Bhakti Investama, the holding company of Media Nusantara Citra, which runs a number of TV stations, including RCTI, SCTV and TPI.
The AGO has detained four suspects in connection with the Web site scandal.
They are Sarana’s president, Yohanes Waworuntu, and three former senior officials at the ministry - Zulkarnain Yunus, who is serving a 4-year sentence for another corruption case; Syamsudin Manan Sinaga, the former director general of public legal administration at the ministry; and Romli Atmasasmita, a law professor who helped draft the country’s anticorruption bill.