Scramble To ‘Fetch’ Missing Politician | The Jakarta Globe

Scramble To ‘Fetch’ Missing Politician | The Jakarta Globe: "Just days after officials said there was nothing wrong with controversial politician Muhammad Nazaruddin’s trip to Singapore, the government and the Democratic Party are now organizing ways to bring him back.

Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said on Sunday that he had ordered the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to cooperate with the National Police and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to immediately find Nazaruddin and bring him back to Indonesia."


“This is so Nazaruddin can immediately be presented, especially when the KPK needs his testimony,” Djoko said, adding that Nazaruddin’s safety needed to be guaranteed.

Nazaruddin is the politician at the center of one of the biggest graft scandals to face the ruling party since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was re-elected.

It emerged on Thursday that he left for Singapore on May 23, hours before the Democrats fired him as their treasurer. It was also a day before a travel ban was requested by the KPK and subsequently issued in relation to an investigation into a Southeast Asian Games graft case.

The KPK immediately said Nazaruddin had the right to travel in the absence of a ban. Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said it was too early to accuse him of fleeing, and Democrat officials said he had received permission to seek medical treatment in Singapore.

The Democrat lawmaker, who is also facing allegations he offered a “friendship gift” of 120,000 Singapore dollars ($97,000) to the Constitutional Court’s secretary general, told the Jakarta Globe he was only in Singapore for a medical checkup and would return as soon as the results came in.

However, in a meeting on Saturday, the president requested the party find a way to bring Nazaruddin back to Indonesia.

Yudhoyono wanted Nazaruddin to face any summons from the KPK, party spokeswoman Andi Nurpati said. “We hope a delegation to fetch Nazaruddin can be formed soon,” she added.

Jafar Hafsah, the chairman of the Democratic faction in the House of Representatives, said efforts to convince Nazaruddin to return began a few days ago.

Through phone conversations, he said, Nazaruddin told them he was still in Singapore for a medical checkup and had not done anything from Singapore to harm the party’s image, including spreading information on scandals allegedly involving Democrats.

Nazaruddin was referring to an SMS text message sent out in his name on Saturday that threatened to expose various scandals linked to the party.

“Of course we also urged him to return back to Indonesia to face any legal investigation,” Jafar said. “We are now considering sending a special delegation to talk with him and bring him back here.”

Singapore does not have an extradition treaty with Indonesia, but law enforcers were successful last year in convincing fugitive Gayus Tambunan to return home from the city-state.

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