Gayus claims illegal overseas trips for sightseeing only

Graft convict Gayus Tambunan said that his illegal jaunts abroad were just for the sake of sightseeing and not because he was trying to secure assets stored overseas.

“Absolutely untrue. There’s no assets in those countries. [I] was just sightseeing,” he said Friday in Jakarta, as quoted by Tribunnews.com.

Attorney General Basrief Arief said on the same day that Gayus’ wealth, aside from the Rp 102 billion (US$11.5 million) stored in Indonesia, was also stashed in four other countries.

During his detainment period last year, it was discovered Gayus had traveled using an illegal passport to Macau, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur while he was supposed to be behind bars.

Gayus claimed that he doesn’t understand “why the issue could be this way. I don’t know the motives [behind this] either.”