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businessman implicated in a Justice Ministry website corruption case fled to Taiwan just one day before he was banned from leaving Indonesia, an official says.

“Hartono Tanoesudibjo fled to Taipei, Taiwan, one day before a travel ban against him was requested by the Attorney General’s Office,” AGO immigration spokesman Maroloan Jonas Barimbing said Thursday.

“From the Border Control Management system, we know that Hartono fled to Taipei on June 24 at 5:04 a.m.,” Maroloan said.

The Directorate General of Immigration granted the AGO’s requested travel ban for Hartono the next day, June 25, he said.

The AGO named Hartono and former justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra suspects in a criminal investigation on Thursday, June 24 — the day as Hartono fled Indonesia, Directorate General of Immigration official Bambang Catur Puspitowarno said.

“Immigration immediately imposed the travel ban as soon as we received the AGO’s request, at 2.30 p.m. that day,” he said.

Hartono allegedly embezzled 90 percent of the profits connected to a legal administration system website owned by the Justice Ministry.

The website, www.sisminbakum.com, was operated by PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD), which is partly owned by Hartono and his media mogul brother Harry Tanoesudibjo.

The case centers on an online service initiated and owned by the Justice Ministry that offered the public services such as notarization and the registration of permits.

Hartono was implicated in the scandal after SRD president director Yohanes Waworuntu, who is also a suspect, testified to prosecutors that he had been forced by Hartono to sign a contract between the company and the Justice Ministry.

Under the contract, the company received 90 percent of the system’s total revenue, with the rest going to ministry officials.

The online service more than Rp 420 billion (US$4.4 million) in access fees between April 2001 and November 2008.

The website allowed legal entities to register for permits and nominate notaries since 2001, with services ranging in price from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1 million.

The AGO said the revenue from the website, amounting to Rp 9 billion per month, should have gone to state coffers as non-tax revenue

Several ministry high-ranking officials, including former director general for public legal administration Romli Atmasasmita and his successors Syamsuddin Manan Sinaga and Zulkarnain Yunus, have also been named suspects in the graft case.

“The border control system recorded that Hartono went to Singapore in February,” Bambang Catur Puspitowarno said Thursday.

Earlier in 2009, Hartono, who was then only a witness in the case, went to Singapore several times to receive medical attention — despite an AGO ban on his leaving Indonesia while undergoing AGO questioning.

On Dec. 24, 2008, Immigration barred Hartono from leaving the country, saying the ban was to ensure he could be contacted at the AGO’s convenience.

“We also imposed a travel ban on former minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra the same day we issued Hartono’s travel ban,” Bambang said Thursday. (ipa)