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fter close to three months living on the run, captured graft fugitive Muhammad Nazaruddin will fi nally return to Jakarta from his hideout in Colombia on a privately chartered jet estimated to cost Rp 4 billion (US$468,000).

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said Nazaruddin, the former treasurer of the Democratic Party, would arrive in Jakarta from Bogotà, Colombia on Saturday.

“He is on the way home. This [Friday] morning, a chartered plane carried him via transit in Barbados. It will take about 30 hours to fl y from Barbados to Jakarta. The plane will land in Jakarta on Saturday,” Anton said Friday.

Nazaruddin was arrested in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, by local police offi cers and Interpol on Sunday. He was then transferred to Bogotà, where the Indonesian embassy is located.

A joint team consisting of National Police officers, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators and immigration officers had flown to Bogotà after the arrest to ensure Nazaruddin’s return.

Anton said the chartered plane would land at Halim Perdanakusuma airport, which handles non-commercial flights.

He added that a chartered plane was chosen to transport Nazaruddin to hasten the process of returning him safely to the country.

Anton, however, declined to comment on a statement by Indonesian Ambassador to Colombia Michael Menufandu on the cost of the chartered flight.

Similarly, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto did not specify the total cost of the fl ight, but said that the plane’s rental cost ranged between $7,000 and $8,000 per hour.

“Just count it yourself,” the minister said regarding how much the fl ight would cost given the hours it took to travel between both countries.

“That doesn’t include other fees, such as landing fees and navigation fees, which are standard,” he added.

Djoko said that judging whether the fl ight was expensive or not was “relative”, adding that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) would foot the bill from funds allotted to them through the state budget.

“There is nothing wrong with the money coming from the KPK because they are handling Nazaruddin’s case,” he said.

The KPK has been investigating a case in which Nazaruddin allegedly demanded a 13 percent kickback for helping PT Duta Graha Indah (PT DGI) win a bid in a Rp 191.7 billion project to construct an athlete’s village for the 2011 SEA Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.

He skipped at least four KPK summons regarding the procurement project commissioned by the Youth and Sports Ministry and a National Education Ministry procurement project, which apparently was also riddled with graft.

As pressure mounted, Nazaruddin flew to Singapore one day before the KPK issued a travel ban barring him from leaving the country this past May.

While waiting for his deportation at the Indonesian Embassy in Bogotà, Nazaruddin handed KPK investigators a bag containing documents.

KPK deputy chairman Bibit Samad Rianto said that the bag was already in the hands of KPK investigators, although he did not specify the exact contents.

“The KPK will be the first to question him,” KPK spokesman Johan Budi said. (rcf)