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Gayus placed in isolation cell after illegal jaunt
Gayus H
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Gayus H. Tambunan - Courtesy of kompas.com
Former tax official and graft convict Gayus H. Tambunan has again exposed the flaws of the country's penitentiary system after he was spotted having lunch at a Jakarta restaurant while he was supposed to be serving his sentence in Sukamiskin Penitentiary in Bandung, West Java.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry confirmed on Monday that the notoriously elusive inmate, who has reportedly made several illegal excursions while behind bars, had meals with two women in Jakarta on Sept. 9.
A photograph of him and the two women went viral on the Internet after a Facebook account named 'Baskoro Endrawan' posted the lunch picture on Sept. 19.
The ministry's director general of penitentiaries, I Wayan K. Dusak, said Gayus had an official permit to attend his divorce trial hearing at the North Jakarta Religious Court.
He later allegedly used the opportunity to coax prison escorts to make a lunch stop at the restaurant on their way back to Sukamiskin.
Gayus has been in an isolation cell at Sumakismin prison since Monday morning for further questioning.
After being sentenced to 30 years on several tax fraud charges, Gayus will also be grilled on possible bribes paid to the prison officials to allow the illegal stop.
'The escort team consisted of two prison officials and one police member. The questioned officials said that they approved Gayus' request because they were also hungry,' Wayan said on Monday.
If proven guilty, the ministry will hand down disciplinary sanctions to the officials and Gayus. In addition to the isolation, he could also be banned from receiving remission next year.
Gayus received a sentence cut for this year, but lawmakers have demanded that it be postponed or reduced following the incident.
Law and Human Rights Ministry Yasonna H. Laoly emphasized that his office would punish any officials found guilty of helping Gayus.
'There is a possibility that he went outside due to his divorce trial. However, it is still a violation if he ate in a place outside the court's cafeteria,' Yasonna said.
Yasonna even warned that Gayus might be sent to a new isolated special penitentiary for drug kingpins in Gunung Sindur, Bogor, West Java, as a further deterence mechanism.
Gayus' lawyer Untung Sunaryo refused to comment on the lunch incident, saying that he had yet to see the photograph, while his other lawyer Hotma Sitompul doubted the authenticity of the picture.
'Is the picture original? It could have been doctored,' Hotma said.
This was not the first allowance that Gayus had received since being in custody for his crimes.
Gayus left his cell at the police's Kelapa Dua maximum security detention center in Depok, West Java, on Nov. 3 2010 by bribing the warden and flew to Bali with his wife and children.
On Nov. 4, 2010, Gayus, who wore a wig, was caught by journalists' cameras while watching an international tennis match.
On March 31, 2010, after fleeing with his family to Singapore because of fears of being named a suspect in a tax fraud case, Gayus turned himself in to police.
