Waiting for Joko Tjandra Speak Openly

KOMPAS/DANU KUSWORO

Djoko Tjandra, the fugitive convicted in the Bank Bali graft case, is escorted to a detention car after arriving at Halim Perdanakusumah Airport, Jakarta, Thursday (30/7/2020). The National Police arrested Djoko Tjandra in Malaysia. Head of the National Police\'s Criminal Investigation Department Comr. Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo directly led the team to fetch Djoko, who is a defendant in the Rp 904 billion Bank Bali graft case handled by the Attorney General\'s Office.

We give appreciation to the National Police, who on Thursday night (30/7/2020) captured Joko Soegiarto Tjandra. Joko was brought back to Indonesia.

Joko Tjandra, commonly referred to as Joker, has made headlines over the past two months. Although he has been on the run since 2009, in early June he reportedly returned to Indonesia and renewed his citizenship documents, registering for an electronic ID card and passport. He, who had been in Papua New Guinea and then in Malaysia, was also reported to have entered Indonesia several times.

Also read: Gen. Idham’s Swift Action

Joker is a convict in a corruption case involving the transfer of Bank Bali\'s debt collection rights (cession), which caused Rp 546 billion in state losses. He fled the country on 10 June 2009, a day before the Supreme Court (MA) sentenced him to two years in prison. On 8 June 2020, he returned to Jakarta, including to register a case review (PK). However, he never attended the court hearing session.

After the indictment was revised and the prosecutors demanded an 18-month jail sentence for Joko, the panel of judges acquitted him.

From the start, the case involving Joker has attracted public attention because it involved officials and looked unfair. In 2000, the state prosecutor\'s indictment against Joko was rejected by the panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court led by R Soenarto. After the indictment was revised and the prosecutors demanded an 18-month jail sentence for Joko, the panel of judges acquitted him.

In fact, a number of officials, such as former Bank Indonesia Governor Syahril Sabirin, former Finance Minister Bambang Soebianto, former Minister of Empowerment of State-Owned Enterprises Tanri Abeng, Rudy Ramli (owner of Bank Bali), Setya Novanto and Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency Pande N Lubis, were questioned, tried and some of them convicted. The ruling for Joker, since his case was tried at the South Jakarta District Court and, later, the Supreme Court, was reportedly leaked so he could escape.

Meanwhile, Maria P Lumowa, a suspect in a graft case centering on the Bank BNI Kebayoran Baru branch, remained on the wanted list since 2003. As a result, in 2019 Maria was arrested in Serbia and early last July was brought back to the country by the National Police together with the Law and Human Rights Ministry (Kemenkumham).

Also read: Joko Feels Comfortable in Malaysia

The National Police and the prosecutor\'s office removed the officials who allegedly aided Joko Tjandra’s return to Indonesia. The Law and Human Rights Ministry investigated the immigration officials. The Jakarta provincial administration removed a subdistrict head, who reportedly gave special treatment to Joker. Anita Kolopaking, Joker\'s lawyer, was also named a suspect.

Friday (31/7/2020), the National Police handed Joker over to the prosecutor\'s office to be given his sentence. Hopefully, Joko can speak more openly from prison, helping the law enforcement in this country be fair and clean. He can open his case and identify anyone involved (in helping his escape). Not to manipulate them to win his case review.