Nunun, Last in Thailand, May Have Fled Asia: KPK

Ulma Haryanto | June 19, 2011
Source: The Jakarta Globe

Nunun Nurbaeti, the fugitive corruption suspect at the center of a bribery case related to the appointment of a central bank official, was last believed to be in Thailand, antigraft officials said on Friday.

Haryono Umar, a deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), said on Friday that the undated information did not rule out the possibility that Nunun may have fled Asia altogether.

“The latest we know is that she was in Thailand,” he said.

The KPK previously said it had reason to believe Nunun had traveled to Cambodia from Thailand on March 23. A separate claim by Fahmi Idris, a Golkar Party politician and former minister of industry, appeared to confirm this.

Fahmi claimed earlier this week that Nunun was in Phnom Penh getting treatment for a sprained ankle.

However Johan Budi, the KPK spokesman, said the new information indicated she was no longer there.

“After conducting probes based on information from investigators and many other related parties, the KPK has reason to conclude that Nunun Nurbaeti is no longer in Cambodia,” he said.

He declined to say where the KPK believed the fugitive was now hiding out, pointing out that it would disrupt law-enforcement efforts to bring her back to Indonesia.

Nunun, the wife of Adang Daradjatun, a former National Police deputy chief and now a legislator with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), is wanted for questioning in the 2004 selection of Miranda Goeltom as senior deputy governor of Bank Indonesia.

Eighteen legislators have been convicted and jailed for taking bribes from a middleman allegedly working for Nunun in exchange for voting for Miranda. Another 10 are currently standing trial.

The legislators are accused of taking a total of Rp 24 billion ($2.8 million) in bribes in the form of traveler’s checks.

Her family claims she is in Singapore being treated for a mystery illness that is causing her to lose her memory.

After the failure of several attempts to bring Nunun back to Indonesia — including the revocation of her passport — the police last week called on Interpol for assistance. The agency has since sent out a red notice for her arrest to its 188 member countries, which include Thailand and Cambodia.

Johan said his office had given up trying to get Adang or anyone else from Nunun’s family to help persuade her to return to the country. “Now we know for sure that they will never cooperate.”

“We have summoned her several times to come in for questioning as a witness, but she never came and her family always gave the same excuse.”

The KPK has previously played down calls for Adang to be charged with obstruction of justice. Johan said the refusal to divulge Nunun’s whereabouts did not amount to a crime.

“The 2009 Anti-Corruption Law states a person may be charged with disrupting an investigation, but that doesn’t apply in the event that they refuse to tell us a suspect’s whereabouts.”