Officials squabble over how embezzler got away

Abdul Khalik ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 07/11/2008 10:12 AM  |  Headlines

The Attorney General's Office, embarrassed by a media report that convicted embezzler David Nusa Wijaya had been able to sneak into Hong Kong, has pledged to bring the businessman back home.

"Under the law, a man freed from prison on parole can't travel abroad. So the fact that David is in Hong Kong is a violation of the law," the deputy attorney general for intelligence, Wisnu Subroto, said Thursday.

"We will bring him home soon."

He blamed poor coordination among officials for the escape.

Wisnu said the Attorney General's Office had contacted Indonesian representatives in Hong Kong to detain David and repatriate him.

But the order came too late, as Hong Kong authorities and Indonesian representatives in Hong Kong had released him after he showed them a letter from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry that permitted him to leave Indonesia.

David was detained by Hong Kong authorities as soon as he arrived from Singapore on Wednesday night. They notified Indonesian representatives of the detention.

Ferry Adamhar, head of Indonesia's representative office, and Sulistiono, the immigration attache in Hong Kong, immediately visited David at the detention center.

But they could hold David for only two hours because he was in possession of all the documents needed to enter Hong Kong, including a letter signed by the director general for penitentiaries.

Sulistiono also found David's name had been removed from the travel ban list.

According to a ministerial decree, a convict released on parole is not allowed to leave the country unless the justice minister says otherwise.

The director general for penitentiaries, Untung Sugiono, denied responsibility for David's overseas trip.

"I just signed a letter for his release. I don't know anything else after that," he said.

"As far as I know, unless he is on a travel ban list, there is no regulation preventing him from going abroad. So he has broken no laws."

Untung said the immigration office should know whether or not David was allowed to leave the country.

The 1992 immigration law states the justice minister, military chief, finance minister and attorney general can all request the Supreme Court issue a travel ban.

The Supreme Court sentenced David in 2003 to eight years in prison and fined him Rp 1.297 trillion (US$139 million at current rates) to cover the losses he inflicted on the state through his misuse of the Bank Indonesia liquidity support fund.

In August 2004, David escaped before prosecutors could execute the court ruling and seize his assets.

He was rearrested in January 2006 by a joint Indonesia-U.S. operation in San Francisco when he was facing immigration charges there.

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