Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan confirmed Asep’s dismissal, calling his misdeed a “fatal” violation that should never have happened.

“The inspectorate has completed a report and it clearly shows that [Asep] violated e-ID card issuance procedures,” Anies said in a written statement on Sunday. “He has been dismissed and there will be a further investigation into the matter.”

Anies condemned the incident and urged officials to obey the law. 

“It is a must to give the best and fast service, but don’t violate the procedures or ease the requirements, especially on the matter of citizenship administration,” he said. 

Read also: Indonesia will be ‘ashamed’ if it is ‘made a fool of’ by fugitive Djoko Tjandra: Mahfud

According to Jakarta inspectorate head Michael Rolandi, Asep was personally involved in the issuance of Djoko’s e-ID, having met with the fugitive’s lawyer Anita Kolopaking at his official residence in May. 

Michael claimed Asep had merely asked his subordinates to check on Djoko’s citizenship status based on Anita’s request.

“The e-ID issuance request was only based on the file picture of Djoko’s old ID and family card stored in Asep’s personal mobile phone,” the inspectorate’s report said.  “The Civil Registration Agency operators on duty issued the e-ID by ignoring the proper procedures because of their deference to the subdistrict head.”

Djoko was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay Rp 546 billion (US$54 million) in restitution by the Supreme Court in 2009 for embezzling billions of rupiah from the state bailout fund during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

After being at large for more than a decade, Djoko has reportedly returned to Indonesia to file a review of his case, but his whereabouts remain unclear. He was absent from the first hearing for his case review last week.