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Hunt continues for fugitive Djoko Tjandra
His whereabouts remain unclear, although reports suggest that he entered Indonesia in order to file the review of his case, raising questions as to why the authorities have failed to find him.
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he South Jakarta District Court on Monday again postponed a hearing of the case review sought by Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra, a high-profile corruption convict and fugitive from the law who has reportedly returned to the country after being at large for over a decade.
His whereabouts remain unclear, although reports suggest that he entered Indonesia in order to file the review of his case, raising questions as to why the authorities have failed to find him.
Monday’s hearing was scheduled to be the first hearing in the case review, in which he is seeking to overturn a guilty verdict for embezzling billions of rupiah from the state bailout fund during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay Rp 546 billion (US$54 million) in restitution by the Supreme Court in 2009, but escaped to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG), a day before the court announced the verdict.
“[Djoko] did not attend [the hearing]. It will be held again on July 20,” South Jakarta District Court spokesperson Suharno told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Djoko had reportedly been living in PNG, and obtained citizenship of that country, since his escape from Indonesia.
His lawyer, Andi Putra Kusuma, said he had returned to Indonesia on June 8 and filed the case review because he was no longer on the government’s most wanted list (DPO).
“Since 2012, he has no longer been on the [Law and Human Rights Ministry’s] most wanted list,” Andi said.
But the government put Djoko back on the list on June 27 and ordered a nationwide hunt for him, putting pressure on his case review process. He had already missed a previous hearing that was scheduled for June 29.
Andi said Djoko had been sick and could not attend Monday’s hearing because he was undergoing medical treatment in Malaysia, which posed more questions as to how the authorities could not locate him as he traveled in and out of the country.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry have played the blame game regarding responsibility for detaining the fugitive.
Attorney General ST Burhanuddin announced last week that Djoko had been in the country for the past three months after escaping to PNG in 2009.
Burhanuddin lambasted the immigration office, which is under the law ministry, for not notifying his office about Djoko’s arrival.
AGO spokesman Hari Setiyono gave an assurance on Monday that his institution “would keep hunting [him]” and said it was optimistic Djoko would soon be located.
Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly has denied that Djoko’s mysterious return was due to failures in his ministry, saying there was no indication that Djoko had returned to the country.
Indonesian Anticorruption Community Coordinator (MAKI) Boyamin Saiman said the government must put an end to all of Djoko’s lawsuits since he is still a fugitive and had filed the case review at the South Jakarta court using illegal ID.
Boyamin said that, according to MAKI’s findings, Djoko had registered the case review using a copy of ID that was issued on the same day the case was filed.
According to MAKI, since Djoko had reportedly been on the run and fled Indonesia until May this year, he should not have been able to provide data records for the issuance of the electronic ID.
It turned out that Djoko procured a new Indonesian ID, despite his reported change of citizenship, by falsifying his personal information, including his birth date.
The data recording and the issuance of the e-ID was reportedly carried out at the South Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Office.
“Due to this illegitimate [ID issuance], the South Jakarta District Court should not have proceeded with the submission hearing in the first place,” Boyamin said.
Boyamin said his organization planned to report the misconduct to the Indonesian Ombudsman on Tuesday, simultaneously with a report against the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Directorate General of Immigration for its failure to monitor Djoko, making it possible for him to re-enter Indonesia undetected.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said he had instructed the AGO to immediately arrest Djoko.
“There's no reason for him to remain free even though he has requested a case review [of his conviction],” Mahfud said in a statement. “I want the AGO to quickly put him [Djoko] in jail in accordance with his conviction,” he added.
