JAKARTA (AFP) - – Indonesian police want to work more closely
with Singapore to track down corruption suspects who have taken
sanctuary in the city state, national police chief detective Ito
Sumardi said Monday.
Singapore came under the spotlight last week when a young tax
official suspected of laundering millions of dollars was
apprehended there and returned to Jakarta.
The ease with which Indonesian police were allowed to enter
Singapore, track down the official, Gayus Tambunan, 30, and
convince him to return to Indonesia has focused attention on other
alleged criminals hiding there.
Sumardi said 10 to 20 Indonesian suspects were living in
Singapore, which has a reputation as the cleanest country in
Asia.
"We need to bring them back to Indonesia... They're economic
criminals. They consider Singapore a safe place to stay," he told
AFP.
"First, our target is to bring back six suspects linked to the
Bank Century case. They're all hiding in Singapore," he said,
referring to a scandal over a 700-million-dollar bank bailout in
2008.
"After that, we'll try to find those involved in other cases.
Based on police checks, we believe the number of suspects in
Singapore is in the teens, including those involved in the Bank
Century case."
In a recent update to lawmakers, Deputy Attorney General Darmono
said most of 18 alleged graft suspects currently subject to
extradition requests were hiding in Singapore.
Another 10 had fled abroad, mostly to Singapore, but were not
subject to extradition requests, he added.
Sumardi said the police and attorney general's office might be
tracking different suspects and he could not provide a definitive
figure for the number of fugitives believed to be in Singapore.
Indonesian officials have complained for years about what they
say is the freedom enjoyed by such fugitives in Singapore, where
they have allegedly pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into
banks and property.
"We'll be working with the Singapore authorities such as the
police and immigration department, and we'll use specific
approaches to convince the suspects to return to Indonesia,"
Sumardi said.
Indonesia and Singapore signed a long-delayed extradition treaty
in 2007 but it has not come into force due to Singapore's
insistence on linking it to defence ties, Indonesian officials
said.
Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said last week that unlike
other Indonesian suspects, Gayus did not have powerful connections
and therefore could not hold out for long.
"Businessmen have a wide reach to anywhere, they have no
boundaries. Civil servants have limited reach," he said.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told AFP last month he planned
to raise Indonesia's concerns in "informal talks" with Singaporean
leaders later this year.