Prosecutors in the dark as to Hartono's whereabouts

Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 01/14/2009 3:42 PM  |  National

State prosecutors investigating alleged online graft at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry have yet to locate the whereabouts of key witness Hartono Tanoesodibjo, who they have banned from travelling overseas.

Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Marwan Effendi said Tuesday that investigators were working closely with the Foreign Ministry following reports that Hartono has flown to Singapore for medical treatment.

"It's possible that Hartono went overseas using a different passport. Therefore we have asked the Foreign Ministry to help us track down his whereabouts," Marwan told The Jakarta Post.

Hartonos is registered as co-owner of PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD), which offered public services online.

The AGO said that the service had caused Rp 400 billion in state losses in the form of unpaid nontax revenues.

Marwan said that the immigration office had no reports of Hartono's departure from Indonesia.

"We definitely have no idea of his whereabouts right now. So at this time he could be anywhere outside or inside the country," Marwan said.

The AGO slapped a travel ban on Hartono on Dec. 26 last year. It has been widely reported that Hartono had been hospitalized in Singapore.

Immigration agency spokesman Agato said it was impossible for anyone who had been barred from travelling abroad to slip through fingers of the immigration office.he or she is registered under another name or he or she is left the country before the travel ban took effect," he said.

Prosecutors believe that Hartono can prove that the embezzlement took place, after SRD president director Yohanes Woworuntu said Hartono had forced him to sign a contract which stipulated that the company earned 90 percent of the revenue.

Yohanes and three former director-generals of the public law administration were named suspects in the case. The online service has been suspended after the AGO confiscated SRD equipment as evidence.

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