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Businessman banned from travel, faces questioning

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has barred businessman Hartono Tanoesodibjo from traveling abroad so he can face questioning over a corruption scandal related to an online service provider at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry

Dian Kuswandini (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, December 26, 2008

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Businessman banned from travel, faces questioning

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has barred businessman Hartono Tanoesodibjo from traveling abroad so he can face questioning over a corruption scandal related to an online service provider at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.

The travel ban was issued Wednesday and is valid for one year, assistant attorney general for intelligence affairs Wisnu Subroto said.

"(Hartono) is banned from traveling overseas starting from today. I already signed the letter of order," he said Wednesday.

A witness in the case, Hartono is part owner of company PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD) that operated the website www.sisminbakum.com.

Hartono is the younger brother of media mogul Hary Tanoesoedibjo and together they are the commissioners of PT Bhakti Investama, a company that owns several media outlets in the country including private TV stations RCTI, Global TV and TPI.

Wisnu said while Hartono was not yet a suspect in the case, the AGO decided to impose the travel ban on the businessman to smooth the investigation into the scandal.

"Someone is given a travel ban if they are allegedly involved in a crime, or are required to support an investigation," Wisnu said.

"Even though his status is still as a witness, we can impose this travel ban until further investigations by prosecutors can determine his involvement in the case," Wisnu said.

A source at the AGO's special crimes division said the travel ban was issued to prevent Hartono fleeing Indonesia to avert the investigation.

"We are worried (Hartono) will avoid another round of questioning or other possible moves by the AGO to investigate his role in this case in this case," the source told The Jakarta Post.

Hartono's lawyer Marthen Pongrekun, a former AGO senior prosecutor, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendy has accused Hartono of hampering the investigation by defying several AGO requests for him to attend a questioning session.

He said Hartono appeared for the first round of questioning after three AGO requests, but failed to show up for a second round this week after being summoned twice, citing the current holiday season as an excuse.

Marwan threatened to force Hartono to front AGO questioning should he defy a third request.

Hartono was implicated in the scandal after SRD president director Yohanes Woworuntu, a suspect in the case, testified to prosecutors that he had been forced by Hartono to sign the website contract between the company and the justice ministry's cooperatives unit.

Under the contract, SRD received 90 percent of the system's total revenue, amounting to about Rp 9 billion per month, while the rest went to ministry officials.

According to the AGO, the money generated from the system should have gone to state coffers as non-tax revenue, instead of individual's pockets, because it offered public services such as permit registration and notarial acts issuances.

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