Travel ban extended for Bob Hasan

JAKARTA (JP): The travel ban slapped on convicted timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hasan and two other suspects for the misuse of state liquidity support has been extended for another year.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Muljohardjo said the extension will take effect on March 29, the date their travel ban which was imposed last year, ends.

"Our request to extend the travel ban was submitted to the Directorate General of Immigration at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights on Monday," he told journalists at his office.

Chairman of PT Bank Umum Nasional (BUN) board of commissioners, Hasan and his partners, including the board's vice chairman Kaharudin Ongko and the bank's president director, Leonard Tanubrata, allegedly used the liquidity support to finance their own businesses instead of coping with the massive bank run during the economic crisis in 1997.

Prosecutors revealed that the three had misappropriated more than Rp 5 trillion of some Rp 12 trillion in funds channeled by Bank Indonesia to BUN between 1997 and 1998. (bby)