"We are waiting for the KPK`s request to take a number of policies that will allow us to forcibly bring former Democrat Party treasurer M Nazaruddin home from Singapore," Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said here on Sunday.
So long as there had been no request from the KPK, the ministry would not forcibly bring Nazaruddin home from the neighboring country, he said.
"We cannot forcibly pick him up from Singapore without any request from the KPK," he said.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said on Monday the anti-graft body might resort to forceful means to bring Nazaruddin home from Singapore if he failed to meet a third summons to testify in a bribery case at the Youth and Sports Ministry.
"When a case we are handling has reached an advanced investigation stage, a witness can be summoned with forceful means if he or she fails to meet our summons a third time without a legally acceptable explanation," Johan said.
The KPK had so far summoned Nazaruddin twice already to be questioned as a witness in two corruption or bribery cases.
On June 10, the KPK had expected Nazaruddin to come to its office to testify in an alleged corruption case at the National Education Ministry but he did not. On June 13, he was to have presented himself at the KPK office to be heard as a witness in the bribery case involving Wafid Muharam, secretary to the youth and sports minister but he also failed to come.
Nazaruddin had thus twice ignored a KPK summons and there had been no reaction whatsoever from him to both summonses while he was in Singapore where he had gone one day before a travel ban was imposed on him last May 14.
Patrialis said the ministry had so far not been informed of Nazaruddin`s legal status. "It is the KPK that handles the Nazaruddin case and until now we have not been informed of the former Democrat Party general treasurer`s legal status," he said.
He said the ministry had not as yet invalidated Nazaruddin`s passport. The ministry had so far imposed a travel ban on him but it proved ineffective as Nazaruddin had already been in Singapore.
Immigration authorities could invalidate the passport of an individual only based on strong reasons, one of them was upholding the law, he said.
"We have no authority to revoke and cancel the passport of an individual without reasons. One of the reasons is a request from law-enforcing bodies," he said.
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Editor: AA Ariwibowo
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
