Indonesians will hunt for fugitive Joko in PNG

FROMhttp://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2012/07/indonesians-will-hunt-for-fugitive-joko-in-png.html

INDONESIAN DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL Darmono has said a team will be sent to Port Moresby to clarify reports that tycoon and fraud fugitive Joko Soegiarto Tjandra [pictured] had been granted citizenship in Papua New Guinea.

We are aware of the reports, and we need them [PNG] to confirm if the information is true, Darmono said.

Australian media previously reported that Joko was among several foreigners given certificates of citizenship last week by the Immigration and Citizenship Advisory Committee of PNG.

Other reports, however, said that prime minister Peter ONeill had ordered Jokos citizenship revoked.

Darmono said that he had never received official information from PNG on the issue. We have sent official letters concerning Jokos alleged whereabouts in the country, but never received any response, he said.

Joko reportedly flew to Port Moresby on a chartered flight from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta on 10 June, the day before the Supreme Court issued a decision convicting and sentencing Joko to two years imprisonment and ordering the businessman to pay US$58.42 million in restitution to the state.

The businessman is known to have controlling shares in a number of plantation companies in Papua New Guinea.