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View all search resultsTannos, golden passports and the price of impunity
We tend to treat the case of Paulus Tannos' escape from justice as a matter of administration rather than urgency, losing critical time and leverage in the process.
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Sandipala Arthaputra president director Paulus Tannos (on the screen) gives a testimony on May 18, 2017, during the e-ID hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court. (Antara/Rosa Panggabean)
F
or years, fugitive businessman Paulus Tannos has managed to evade justice in Indonesia despite being a key suspect in the multi-trillion-rupiah e-ID project, one of the country’s most egregious corruption scandals.
His prolonged freedom is not just an isolated case, but a troubling reflection of two overlapping failures. First, it exposes how the global system of citizenship and residency has been increasingly manipulated by individuals with deep pockets. In a world where money can buy you a new identity, golden passport schemes offer an escape hatch for financial criminals, allowing them to legally disappear while continuing to live, invest and operate with impunity.
Second, it highlights the weakness of Indonesia’s own political will to pursue high-profile corruption fugitives and recover stolen assets. This institutional inertia is deeply ironic, especially given President Prabowo Subianto’s repeated public commitment to combating corruption and strengthening law enforcement. Yet, the silence on this case speaks volumes.
Golden passports and investment visas, also known as citizenship- and residence-by-investment (CBI and RBI), have become highly lucrative industries in some countries. In theory, these schemes are meant to attract foreign direct investment and stimulate local economies. In practice, however, they have opened the door to widespread abuse. Transparency International and investigative journalists have shown how these programs frequently help corrupt officials, tax evaders and financial criminals launder their identity along with their assets.
Tannos reportedly acquired a passport from Guinea-Bissau, a West African country that has been flagged repeatedly for its lack of transparency and poor vetting procedures in selling citizenship. According to a report by Transparency International European Union, Guinea-Bissau is among the jurisdictions most exploited by financial criminals seeking to evade prosecution. Despite the red flags, however, there has been little to no official follow-up by Indonesian authorities to confirm Tannos’ new identity or formally engage with the country in question.
This raises deeper questions about how seriously Indonesia is pursuing fugitive recovery. The process is often reactive and slow. Red notices from Interpol are delayed, diplomatic channels underutilized and international cooperation remains patchy at best. We continue to treat this as a matter of administration rather than urgency, losing critical time and leverage in the process.
Tannos is known to live in Singapore, with which Indonesia has signed an extradition treaty. The government is now waiting for a Singaporean court to decide whether to accept Tannos’ challenge to Indonesia’s request for his extradition from the city-state.
