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The Indonesian ambassador to Thailand, Muhammad Hatta, was the brains behind a corruption scandal at the embassy that caused an estimated Rp 1.8 billion ($191,000) in losses to the state, a senior prosecutor claimed on Monday.

“According to our investigation, the ambassador controlled the money. He is now at the center of our investigation,” said Arminsyah, director of corruption investigations at the Attorney General’s Office.

Hatta on Monday was questioned for the first time by the AGO since he was named a suspect in the case last month. He was implicated in the affair after the AGO earlier named the deputy ambassador, Djumantoro Purbo, and embassy’s treasurer, Suhaeni, as suspects.

The senior diplomat missed earlier summonses because of poor health.

“Only recently have we learned about the ambassador’s key role in the scandal,” Arminsyah said. “The ill-gotten money was kept in cash by the treasurer but the spending depended fully on the ambassador’s final decision.”

Prosecutors suspected misappropriations from the embassy’s 2008 budget surplus, amounting to Rp 7 billion, which had been used without government approval to allegedly finance Independence Day celebrations in the Thai capital and to fund bonuses for embassy officials.

Prosecutors said the embassy had also claimed to have used $260,000 for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s visit to Thailand last year to attend an Asean summit, when the trip had been paid for by the State Palace.

According to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), the embassy had accounted for some Rp 5.2 billion of its surplus but Rp 1.8 billion remained missing.

Marwan Effendy, deputy attorney general for special crimes, previously had said that there would be no need to detain the suspects during the investigation because all the money had been returned.

The AGO and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) have previously uncovered systematic corruption at a number of foreign missions, including in China, Singapore and Malaysia.

Two former envoys to China, Rear Adm. (ret.) Aa Kustia and Lt. Gen. (ret.) Kuntara, are currently being tried at the Central Jakarta District Court for alleged misuse of embassy funds.

In December, the Anti-Corruption Court found Slamet Hidayat, a former ambassador to Singapore, guilty of corruption in connection to renovations at the embassy. He was sentenced to three years in jail.

His sentence came after the same court convicted two former ambassadors to Malaysia, Hadi Wayarabi and Rusdiharjo, for collecting illegal visa fees. They were sentenced to 30 months and two years in jail, respectively.