Travel ban impossed on businessmen

Travel ban impossed on businessmen

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office has banned four
suspects in corruption cases from traveling overseas for one
year, spokesman Muljohardjo said on Wednesday.

"The travel ban is aimed at facilitating the ongoing
investigation into the cases," he said.

The ban slapped on director of construction company PT Marga
Nurindo Bhakti Joko Ramiadji, and businessmen Kosasih and Haryono
has been effective since Tuesday, the day Attorney General
Baharuddin Lopa was inducted. The travel ban on businessman
Hokiarto has been extended for another one year, beginning May
28.

Joko was named a suspect in the corruption that marred toll
road projects in the capital. Using his close relationship with
then the first family, he allegedly issued commercial papers to
fund the projects after winning concession rights to operate the
toll roads for 35 years. The papers failed to hit the market.

The case had been halted for two years before it was reopened
on May 23.

Businessman Hokiarto served his initial one-year travel ban in
1999 after he was implicated in a 1995 land swap deal with the
State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The same case brought former president Soeharto's son Hutomo
"Tommy" Mandala Putra and businessman Ricardo Gelael to court,
which handed them a jail sentence. Also involved was Bulog's
former chief Beddu Amang, whose trial has been reopened. The
South Jakarta District Court had acquitted him of all charges in
1999.

Kosasih and Haryono have been named suspects in the
embezzlement of state funds for the food catering service
provided by PT Angkasa Citra Sarana Catering, a subsidiary of the
flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, for the now defunct PT Sempati
Air.(bby)