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Former top envoy to US named suspect

Shortly after being released on parole, graft convict and former Indonesian ambassador to the United States Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat is once again facing another corruption charge that could send him back to prison. Spokesperson of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Priharsa Nugraha confirmed on Wednesday that Sudjadnan had been questioned on charges of misusing state funds earmarked for the Foreign Ministry to organize a series of international events including seminars and conferences between 2004 and 2005.

The KPK said that the crime occurred while Sudjadnan was the ministry secretary-general for the 2004-2005 period. He was accused of playing an important role in the misappropriation scheme, which caused the state to lose Rp 18 billion (US$1.9 million). The KPK, however, has not moved to detain Sudjadnan.
The antigraft body named Sudjanan in November 2011 but details of the case have only been disclosed recently KPK investigators have questioned a number of witnesses including Indonesian ambassador to Canada Dienne Dhardianto Mohario, a former inspector general at the ministry and composer and conductor Erwin Gutawa. Erwin is one of musicians regularly invited to perform at the events in question.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said Sudjadnan was the only suspect in the case. “But investigators may come up with more names as the probe progresses, when they have more testimony and evidence,” he said. This is not the first time Sudjadnan has been investigated for graft. In 2008 while still serving as ambassador to the US, Sudjadnan was named a suspect for his role in the mark-up of the renovation of the Indonesian embassy in Singapore between 2003 and 2004. The procurement project was worth $1.98 million.

During Sudjadnan’s corruption trial in 2008, former ambassador to Singapore Mochamad Slamet Hidayat, who was also convicted, revealed that Sudjadnan had received US$200,000 from the project funds when he was the Foreign Ministry secretary-general. In January 2011, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced him to 1 year and 8 months in prison. He was released on parole earlier this year. The Foreign Ministry has recently been rocked by a graft scandal in the procurement of overseas flight tickets for its diplomats and officials.

The investigation by the Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) special crimes division at that time implicated former Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, who is now a member of the presidential advisory board, and former secretary-general (now Indonesian ambassador to China) Imron Cotan.
No charges have been brought to the former senior officials. Several cases of alleged corruption involving Indonesian diplomats overseas have raised concerns over their credibility in representing the country abroad.

Another top envoy implicated in a graft case is former ambassador to Russia Hamid Awaluddin. He was implicated in a passport project carried out by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry where he was minister from 2005 to 2007. Hamid earlier evaded graft charges against him in connection with the misuse of 2004 election funds, and in another case linked to a bribery scandal involving former president Soeharto’s youngest son, Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra