Media baron defies prosecutors’ summons

Media baron Bambang Hary Iswanto Tanoesoedibjo, owner of the country’s leading private channel RCTI, has shunned a summons issued by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) for a questioning session as he is on a trip to Australia.

Hary would have been quizzed on Tuesday in his capacity as PT Bhakti Investama commissioner in connection with corruption in a government online service which implicates his elder brother Hartono Tanoesoedibjo and former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

“Hary Tanoe should have appeared for questioning yesterday but someone at his home said he went to Israel. We checked with the immigration office and was informed that he was in Australia instead,” AGO spokesman Babul Khoir Harahap was quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

Babul said Hary left for Australia last month.

The state prosecutors will issue a second summons to Hary for questioning as a witness related to the graft case.

Hary was said to sign a contract to develop and run the online service in 2001, which prosecutors say has caused Rp 420 billion (US$46 million) in state losses.