Tanri Abeng slapped with travel restriction

Tanri Abeng slapped with travel restriction

JAKARTA (JP): Immigration officials on Monday said that former
state minister of the empowerment of state enterprises Tanri
Abeng has been slapped with an overseas travel ban as he is being
investigated as a suspect in the Bank Bali scandal.

The spokesman for the immigration office, Mursanudin Ghani,
told The Jakarta Post that the ban has been imposed since
Wednesday.

"We have received a request from the Attorney General's Office
to prevent Tanri Abeng from traveling abroad," he said.

"At that time we immediately informed all immigration
checkpoints across the country," he added.

Spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Soehandoyo, said
the travel ban was imposed to prevent Tanri from fleeing abroad
during the investigations.

The ban was signed by Deputy Attorney General for
Intelligence, Yusuf Kartanegara.

Tanri and suspended Bank Bali official, Erman Munzir, were
named in January as suspects in the Rp 546 billion Bank Bali
scandal.

Tanri was accused of facilitating the money transfer to PT Era
Giat Prima (EGP) for its services in assisting Bank Bali to
recoup interbank claims of about Rp 904 billions from now defunct
banks.

EGP is controlled by businessman Djoko S. Chandra and Golkar
legislator Setya Novanto. It is suspected that part of the
commission was used to bankroll B.J. Habibie's presidential
reelection bid last year.

Separately, Tanri's lawyers chided the ban saying it was
completely unnecessary.

Hotma Sitompoel told the Post that the only reason his client
had gone abroad recently was to attract investors.

"The ban is baseless. We have guaranteed that our client won't
fail any summons. Yes, he went abroad during the investigation,
but it was only for a couple of days... and he brought investors
home.

"This only shows that the work at the Attorney General's
Office is not proper and the Attorney General is incompetent,"
Hotma remarked.

He also said that the travel ban notice has no time limit.

"Tomorrow, we (the lawyers) will come to the Attorney
General's Office to ask them to lift the travel ban," he added.
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