Attorney general under fire for lapsed travel bans
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The government has failed to extend the travel bans on 10 suspects and convicts in the misuse of Bank Indonesia liquidity support funds, sparking concerns that the suspects will be able to evade justice by fleeing abroad.
The travel bans should have been extended in July this year, when most of the travel bans on the 10 expired. But as of Sunday, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) had not asked the Immigration Office to extend the bans.
The travel bans are good for one year.
Ade E. Dahlan, a spokesman for the Immigration Office, said that in the absence of a request by the Attorney General's Office, the Immigration Office had no basis to extend the travel bans.
"As a result, we cannot do anything to prevent them from fleeing abroad. It should be made clear that, according to legal rules, our office only follows what the AGO tells us to do. We cannot impose travel bans at our own initiative," Ade said on Sunday.
The spokesman was responding to an earlier statement by the Attorney General's Office that it had requested the Immigration Office to extend the travel bans on the 10 suspects and convicts.
The controversy over the bans dates back two weeks, when the Attorney General's Office received a copy of the Supreme Court's decision sentencing graft convict David Nusa Widjaja to eight years in prison.
A spokesman for the office, Kemas Yahya Rahman, said that now that the Attorney General's Office had official notification of the verdict, David would be found and jailed.
However, it soon came to light that David, who was sentenced on July 23, 2003, by the Supreme Court in a multibillion dollar corruption scam, had already fled the country. David, the former owner of the now-defunct Servitia Bank, reportedly left the country shortly after his travel ban expired on July 5, 2003, according to immigration records.
The fact that David was able to evade justice because of a bureaucratic mistake landed the Attorney General's Office in hot water. The office later claimed it had asked the Immigration Office to extend the travel ban on David and 10 other graft suspects to prevent them from fleeing the country.
However, this claim was quickly denied by the Immigration Office.
Other suspects in the misuse of Bank Indonesia liquidity support include Setiawan Harjono of Bank Aspac and Eko Adi Putranto of Bank BHS, who have been sentenced to several years imprisonment. Other suspects, including Heru Supraptomo and Paul Sutopo of Bank Indonesia, have appealed their verdicts and are awaiting rulings from the Supreme Court.
No. Suspect/Convicts Bank State losses Legal status
1. Setiawan Harjono Aspac Rp 583.4 billion 1 year in jail 2. Eko Edi Putranto BHS Rp 2.66 trillion 20 years 3. Sherny Kojongian BHS Rp 2.66 trillion 20 years 4. David Nusa Wijaya Servitia Rp 1.3 trillion 8 years 5. Bambang Sutrisno Surya Rp 1.51 trillion Life sentence 6. Adrian K. A. Surya Rp 1.51 trillion Life sentence 7. Heru Supratomo Central Rp 18.2 trillion Supreme Court 8. Hendrobudiyanto Central Rp 18.2 trillion Supreme Court 9. Paul Sutopo Central Rp 18.2 trillion Supreme Court 10. Supari D. Ficorinvest Rp 319 billion Supreme Court 11. S. Soemari Ficorinvest Rp 319 billion Supreme Court ================================================================ Various sources