Legislators Cry Foul Over Graft Convict Gayus’s Latest Alleged Outing
Jakarta. Legislators plan to summon Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly to testify about yet another alleged out-of-jail jaunt by high-profile graft convict Gayus Tambunan.
Gayus, serving 30 years in prison for a string of crimes related to his previous role as a crooked tax official, was in May reportedly photographed eating out at a restaurant in Jakarta. The picture only made the rounds of social media this past weekend.
“This case hurts the public’s sense of justice,” Arsul Sani, a member of the House of Representatives’ Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said in Jakarta on Monday.
“Firm action must be taken against all prison officials [who allowed Gayus out],” added Ruhut Sitompul, another House Commission III member.
The commission chairman, Aziz Syamsuddin, said legislators would soon summon Yasonna and the Justice Ministry’s director general of corrections to testify about Gayus’s allegedly being allowed out of jail.
A ministry official said earlier on Monday that Gayus was indeed allowed out on Sept. 9 to attend a hearing in his divorce trial, but could not confirm whether he had a similar arrangement for being let out four months earlier.
“Even if it’s OK for Gayus to leave for a short amount of time to attend his divorce hearing, he should have gone back to the prison immediately,” Aziz said, apparently conflating the two separate dates.
“He should not have wandered outside; that would set a bad example [for other inmates]. They would also want to dine out at a restaurant like Gayus,” he added.
Gayus is serving four sentences, running consecutively and amounting to 30 years, at Bandung’s Sukamiskin Penitentiary for graft convicts.
He was initially convicted in 2010 of taking $3.5 million in bribes from several companies to lower their tax bills. He was also later found guilty of bribing a police investigator and district court judge who had acquitted him in an earlier trial centering on the same allegations.
Gayus was also convicted of money-laundering in connection with the Rp 28 billion ($1.9 million) found in his personal bank accounts, and slapped with an additional sentence for using a fake passport to take overseas jaunts while supposedly in remand awaiting trial in the original tax case.
His trips were revealed following the publication of a photo by Jakarta Globe chief photographer Jurnasyanto Sukarno of the tax official attending an international women’s tennis championship in Bali, complete with an ill-fitting wig and thick-framed glasses.
The photo later won the scoop of the year prize at the 2011 Society of Publishers in Asia awards gala.
Tags: Keywords: