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Government plans to revive team to hunt graft fugitives amid criticism
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In this file photo, graft convict Djoko Tjandra stands trial for his involvement in the Bank Bali graft case. He was convicted of misusing Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds in the case. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)
T
he government is stepping up its efforts to catch graft fugitives with a plan to revive an integrated team to hunt them down, after years of inaction.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said that his office would lead the team with members coming from the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Home Ministry and the Law and Human Rights Ministry.
Mahfud said each participating institution would play specific roles in the team: the police and the AGO will investigate and locate the whereabouts of graft fugitives, the Home Ministry will analyze civil registry records and the Law and Human Rights Ministry will provide immigration records. The team will also seize fugitives’ illegal assets to reimburse state losses.
“We used to have a similar team and now we are going to revive it. We have prepared a presidential instruction [inpres] as a legal guideline for the reactivation,” Mahfud said in a statement on Tuesday.
The recent failure of authorities to detect the arrival of longtime fugitive and graft convict Djoko Tjandra in the country appears to have given urgency to the establishment of the team.
Djoko fled to Papua New Guinea in 2009, a day before his conviction for involvement in the high-profile Bank Bali graft case.
Last month, Indonesian authorities learned that Djoko had reentered Indonesia only after the AGO, which investigated his case in the past and has been hunting for him since his escape, discovered he had filed an appeal for a review of his case.
