The escape by graft convict Djoko S. Tjandra out of the country has seen the House of Representatives assign the blame squarely on the Attorney General’s Office.
“The AGO should have coordinated better with immigration officials to prevent Djoko going abroad,” House member Trimedya Pandjaitan said Wednesday.
“Djoko is a very rich man. It’s very easy for him to go abroad. The AGO should have taken note of that.”
The Supreme Court recently sentenced Djoko — a Golkar Party-linked businessman — and former Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin to two years’ imprisonment each after finding them guilty of corruption in an illegal disbursement of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds to the now-defunct Bank Bali in 1999.
Sjahril began serving out his sentence at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta on Tuesday. Djoko remains at large.
“The AGO must now quickly coordinate with Interpol and the National Police to track Djoko Tjandra down,” Trimedya said.
Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said his office had done its best to prevent Djoko leaving the country.
“Once we were informed of the court’s verdict, we immediately got in touch with the Immigration Office to impose a travel ban on Djoko,” he said.
“However, Djoko was nowhere to be found. He did not turn himself in when we summoned him and he was not at his home either.
“According to the information we managed to gather, Djoko was last seen in the country five months ago.”
Hendarman added that for now the AGO would focus on working together with the Immigration Office and would keep trying to summon Djoko.
“We will also work together with Interpol to track Djoko down,” he said.
With the AGO busy searching for Djoko, his lawyer, O.C. Kaligis, said later that day that his client was in Singapore, undergoing medical treatment.
“He’s in Singapore; I’ve been in contact with his family,” Kaligis said.
He added he had advised his client to return to Indonesia to settle his legal affairs.
Legislator Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party (PAN) urged the Indonesian government to seek the Singaporean government’s help in finding Djoko.
“However, I am pessimistic we can catch the fugitive, because Singapore has long been a safe haven for corrupt Indonesian businesspeople,” he said.
The Bank Bali scandal, which unfolded in 1998, revolved around allegations the bank had received a Rp 904 billion loan under the BLBI scheme, with assistance from PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), which itself received Rp 546 billion in commissions for its assistance.
The bank’s owner, Rudy Ramli, failed to claim much-needed inter-bank loans from debtors Bank Umum Nasional and Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia. Rudy then shifted the claims to EGP, owned by Djoko.
Prosecutors said the disbursement of the loan occurred after Sjahril had attended a meeting with Djoko, Rudy, EGP president Setya Novanto, former Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency deputy chairman Pande Lubis, former state enterprises minister Tanri Abeng and former Supreme Advisory Council chairman A.A. Baramuli.
The court reviewed the case upon request by the AGO, after the same court had acquitted Sjahril in 2002 and the South Jakarta District Court found Djoko not guilty due to a lack of evidence in 2000.
The district court had sentenced Sjahril to three years in jail.
The Supreme Court also ordered EGP and Bank Bali (now Bank Permata) to pay Rp 546 billion in restitution to the state.
The AGO confiscated on Tuesday Rp 546 billion (US$54.6 million) being held in accounts at Permata Bank, as evidence in connection with the graft scandal. (hdt)
