Suspect ignores travel ban, slips abroad
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh lashed out at the Immigration Office for allowing a key corruption suspect to travel overseas despite being the subject of a travel ban.
"I want the Minister of Justice and Human Rights to pay serious attention to this case. They can't do this. It endangers the entire anticorruption movement. How could they let such a person go abroad," he said to reporters on Friday after a ceremony at the State Palace.
Abdul Rahman said that he had complained directly to justice minister Hamid Awaluddin, who promised he would investigate the case.
"I want the Immigration Office to be more serious. As far as I remember, this sort of thing has happened three times since I took up office," he said, adding that the police should step in should any irregularities emerge in the case.
The Immigration Office comes under the supervision of the Minister of Justice and Human Rights.
Achmad Djunaidi, a former president of state-run insurance firm PT Jamsostek, which among other things manages the pension contributions of millions of Indonesian workers, is a key suspect in a corruption investigation that centers on loss-making investment decisions made by Jamsostek management believed to have inflicted losses of up to Rp 250 billion (US$26.3 million) on the state.
According to Abdul Rahman, the AGO had informed the Immigration Office on July 4 about the travel ban imposed on Achmad, but nevertheless he was still able to pass through immigration control on his way abroad on July 5. Achmad is now performing a minor pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Later in the day, Hamid admitted that the incident was due to the negligence of the Immigration Office, and said it was a case of "human error".
He said that the Immigration Office received notification of the travel ban on Achmad on the evening of July 4. The Immigration Office then forwarded the notification to all airports and seaports across the country, he said.
The next morning, immigration officers at Soekarno-Hatta Airport allowed Achmad, who was traveling in a group, to leave the country.
Hamid also said that the mistake could have been due to "technical reasons."
Hamid said that the Attorney General's Office had told the Immigration Office to prevent one "Ahmad Djunaedi, born in Lahat on June 12, 1945, and residing at Jl. Bacang II No. 8 Mayestik, South Jakarta" from traveling abroad while according to the immigration officers at the airport, the passport presented by Achmad was in the name of one "Achmad Djunaedi, born in Lahat on June 12, 1943, and residing on Jl. Rambutan, South Jakarta."
Two immigration officers, identified as S and HP, have been questioned by the Immigration Office's internal discipline unit for "lacking responsiveness and creativity", Hamid said.
Immigration Office director Iman Santoso blamed the computer system at the airport.
The Immigration Office said it had ordered its office in Jeddah to withdraw Achmad's passport and replace it with a one- way travel document.
"Hopefully, he will be back here soon," Hamid said.