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Bandung. The Attorney General’s Office hinted on Sunday that more suspects might be named in relation to a failed deal to lease passenger jets, which cost state-owned airline Merpati Nusantara $1 million.

“It is possible there will be more suspects,” said Andhi Nirwanto, deputy attorney general for special crimes.

He refused to divulge names or connections to the case.

“The case is quite tricky, so all investigation is still top secret. If we say more, this might hinder our strategy,” the senior AGO official said.

Andhi also refused to say when the new suspects would be announced.

The AGO is racing against time to conclude its investigation as the six-month travel ban imposed on several Merpati officials is due to expire by January next year.

Merpati signed a deal with US-based Thirdstone Aircraft Leasing Group to lease a Boeing 737-400 and a Boeing 737-500. It paid a $1 million security deposit but never received the planes, and neither did it get a refund.

The company filed a lawsuit against Thirdstone in April 2007 for breach of contract. A district court in Washington, D.C., issued a verdict ordering Thirdstone to return the $1 million, but the payment never came. It is not clear what further legal steps the company was taking.

In August, the AGO named two Merpati officials as suspects: Hotasi Nababan, who led the company when the deal was made in 2006, and former finance director Guntur Aradea.

Lawyers for the suspects have said the case should be settled in civil court, not criminal court. J. Kamaru, one of the lawyers, said Merpati had the authority to make business deals like the one with Thirdstone without first securing the permission of the State Enterprises Ministry.

The Thirdstone deal came under the AGO’s scrutiny because it suspected the agreement was drawn up without the consent of the minister and because state losses were incurred.

Merpati is also being investigated over its purchase of 15 Chinese-made MA60 planes, one of which crashed in Papua this year, killing all 25 people on board.

Under a 2006 contract between Merpati and Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, each aircraft was priced at $14.1 million. It was later discovered that airlines in the Philippines, Ghana and Nepal had bought the same type of aircraft for $11 million each.

Andhi said the AGO was struggling to find evidence in relation to the MA60 planes purchases. “For the purchase, [investigators] rely more on media reports. For the time being, we still have limited information,” he said.

Merpati took delivery of the first two planes in mid-2007, but after finding cracks in an important component and facing worsening financial difficulties, it considered canceling the order.

The deal was also dogged by concerns that the MA60s were not certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration, whose guidelines, though not mandatory in Indonesia, are considered a standard around the world.