Attorney general under fire for lapsed travel bans
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
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Various sources