Passports held by a high-profile Indonesian corruption convict and his family members were made available and officially registered in Guyana, according to police in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Jakarta Post today reported that the National Police there have confirmed that five falsified Guyana passports bearing photos of tax graft convict Gayus H. Tambunan, his wife Milana Anggareni, and their three children, were officially registered in Guyana.
The report said that the National Police had sent a team to Guyana to investigate the passports allegedly belonging to Gayus and his family.
“The passports [officially] exist,” National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said late on Tuesday. The Guyana Government has not provided any information on this case and it is unclear if a team from Indonesia ever came here in connection with it.
The report noted that the Indonesian police had previously found pictures of an assortment of five Guyana passports bearing false identification and photographs of Gayus and his family, in an email belonging to a suspect. The email had been sent by another suspect, US national John Jerome Grice.
Ito added that, based on Gayus’ avowal, Johan had not handed over the falsified passports because Gayus had not paid the US$300,000 fee required to make them.
“[The passports] had not been used yet,” Ito said, as reported by kompas.com.
The Jakarta Post said that John had previously helped Gayus obtain a falsified passport using the alias Sony Laksono, for a fee of US$100,000.
John is now wanted by the National Police and Interpol.
Meanwhile, Tambunan may be in more hot water. The Jakarta Post said that he may be required to prove the legality of his enormous wealth in court or risk facing a heavier sentence than that handed down in his previous trial. He was sentenced to seven years in that trial.
The Post said that Gayus will likely be obliged to defend the source of his wealth as a consequence of the 2010 Anti-Money Laundering Law, which police are charging him with, National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The police initially charged Gayus with receiving gratuities. The move drew criticism that the police intended to protect the “big fish” as gratuity charges would leave the bribe payers untouched.
Under the anti-money laundering law, the Jakarta Post said that the burden of proof is placed on the suspect, meaning Gayus would have to prove the sources of his funds were legal.
The law could force Gayus to identify the sources of the Rp 100 billion (US$11.1 million) in his bank accounts. If any of the companies whose tax appeals Gayus handled are named, judges may order police to probe the firms.
Critics claim it would have been impossible for the 31-year-old Gayus to have Rp 100 billion in his bank accounts, given that his monthly salary as a tax official was Rp 12 million.
