19 Jun 2012

Indonesian fugitive becomes PNG citizen

5:48 pm on 19 June 2012

It has been revealed that the Papua New Guinea government has given citizenship to an Indonesian fugitive, Joko Soegiarto Tjandra, who is wanted for fraud after causing losses of a quarter of a billion US dollars.

The Post Courier newspaper says Tjandra was not present for the award ceremony at parliament and neither was the foreign minister, Ano Pala, as is normal procedure.

The paper says he was given the certificate before the official event and amid controversy within the foreign affairs department.

The newspaper says concern has been raised that proper procedure may not have been followed.

In 2009, Tjandra fled Jakarta a day before he was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to repay the state 54 million dollars,