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Court’s Limit on Travel Bans Doesn’t Apply to Us: KPK
Rizky Amelia & Ulma Haryanto | February 10, 2012

PDI-P legislator I Wayan Koster seen in this file photo after being questioned as a witness at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). A travel ban has been imposed on him even though he hasn PDI-P legislator I Wayan Koster seen in this file photo after being questioned as a witness at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). A travel ban has been imposed on him even though he hasn't been named a suspect. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)
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After the Constitutional Court called it unconstitutional to put a travel ban on suspects during the early stages of investigation, the nation’s antigraft body said on Thursday that the ruling would not affect its own efforts to hunt down corruptors.

“The ruling is on the Immigration Law, not on the KPK Law,” said Johan Budi, a spokesman for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that a phrase in the Immigration Law allowing travel bans during the preliminary stage of investigation, when the status of a person is not yet clear, was unconstitutional.

But Johan said that based on the KPK Law, the antigraft body can still ask the immigration office to ban someone under preliminary investigation from leaving the country.

Maryoto, a spokesman for the Immigration Office, agreed with that assessment, saying the court ruling applied only to general crimes and not to extraordinary crime such as corruption.

“I’m sure the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police understand this,” Maryoto said. “If the KPK asks us to ban someone under preliminary investigation, then we’ll do it.”

However, O.C. Kaligis, whose law firm filed the judicial review, dismissed the statements, saying the ruling was applicable across the board and on any crime.

“All ban requests are proposed to the immigration office, so the ruling can be applied to all requests, including those from the KPK,” he said.

The legal motion was triggered by the travel ban imposed on former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin before he was named a suspect, one of the petitioners, Slamet Yuwono, earlier told the Jakarta Globe.

Constitutional Court spokesman Akil Mochtar clarified on Thursday that the travel ban on I Wayan Koster, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), remains valid.

Wayan is implicated in the corruption scandal involving Nazaruddin but has not been named a suspect.

“The ban on Wayan was issued because the case is already in the investigation stage,” Akil said.