This Is The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs' Response To Paulus Tannos Ngaku Having A Guinea Bissau Passport

Paulus Tannos. (Special DOC).

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) Roy Soemirat responded to claims by fugitives in the e-KTP corruption case Paulus Tannos who claimed to have a diplomatic passport from Guinea-Bissau countries.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have information or confirmation of the status of Paulus Tannos (PT) as a holder of Guinea-Bissau passports," Roy told reporters, Tuesday, January 28.

Roy said that his party was coordinating with law enforcement agencies that were more authorized in handling the Paulus Tannos case.

Given, according to him, the issue of Paulus Tannos' citizenship who was arrested in Singapore some time ago was under the authority of the Ministry of Law.

"Until now, the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is as a diplomatic channel between the Government of Indonesia and the Singapore government to follow up on various things that need to be done, if there are things that according to Indonesian law enforcement officials need to be followed up," he explained.

As for the trial on January 23, reported by the newspaper The Straits Times, Paulus Tannos through his attorney claimed immunity from prosecution. He argued that he had a passport of a Guinean-Bissau diplomat who is a state in West Africa.

However, local authorities said otherwise. The diplomatic passport was not accredited by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Previously reported, the KPK named Paulus Tannos who is the President Director of PT Sandipala Arthapura as a suspect in the corruption case in the procurement of electronic identity cards (e-KTP) in 2019.

He was announced as a suspect along with three other people, namely Isnu Edhi Wijaya as former President Director of the State Printing Corporation of the Republic of Indonesia (PNRI); 2014-2019 DPR RI member Miryam S Haryani; and former Head of the Information Technology Technical Team for the Implementation of e-KTP Husni Fahmi.

Paul then wanted and entered the wanted list (DPO) in 2021. He was almost caught but because he changed his name and passport, the effort failed.

This arrest was then successfully carried out by the Singapore Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on January 17. Even so, it has not been conveyed about the location of Paulus Tannos' arrest.

"Yes, that's right (the arrest was on January 17, ed). We were informed by the Singapore general authority, the person concerned was successfully secured by the Singapore CPIB," said the Head of the International Relations Division (Hubinter) of the National Police, Inspector General Krishna Murti to VOI, Friday, January 24.