At the heart of a cross-border extradition case is Indonesia’s most wanted man. Who is Paulus Tannos?

Businessman turned fugitive Paulus Tannos, also known as Tjhin Thian Po, recently made news for his alleged involvement in a multimillion rupiah corruption case – said to be one of Indonesia’s largest scandals in recent history. Wanted by Indonesian authorities for suspected graft, he has been on the country’s fugitive list since 2021 and is now the center of the first cross-border extradition case under a freshly-minted treaty between Singapore and Indonesia. His capture by Singapore’s anti-graft agency the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on Jan 17 put an end to years of evasion. Here are some things to know about him:

Businessman, fugitive and Singapore PR, with three names

Tannos is a permanent resident of Singapore, where he resides with his family. While he has lived in Singapore since 2017, Indonesian authorities claim that he holds Indonesian citizenship, which he tried to relinquish on multiple occasions.

His past two attempts to give up Indonesian citizenship failed due to incomplete documentation and he remains a citizen of the South-east Asian country, Indonesian Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas told The Star. 

Tannos appears to have ties to Western African country Guinea-Bissau. He holds a diplomatic passport from the nation under a third name.

He was the president, director and owner of tech company Shandipala Arthaputra. The company was contracted by the Indonesian government for its electronic identification card megaproject – known as e-KTP – that was slated to launch in 2011. 

Player in Indonesia’s biggest scandal in recent history

Tannos is suspected of involvement in a major corruption scandal involving the Indonesian government’s electronic identification card (e-ID) megaproject e-KTP that reportedly incurred losses amounting to around 2.3 trillion rupiah (S$187 million).

The scandal had dozens of high profile figures trialled and jailed, including former Indonesian Home Ministry officials Irman and Sugiharto, The Star reported.

Tannos is accused of colluding with lawmakers to ensure his firm Sandipala Arthaputra won the project tender to produce components of e-ID cards at inflated prices in return for illegal compensations, Reuters said.

The budget for the production of the e-ID cards was said to be marked up by 49 per cent to 2.5 trillion rupiah, former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin said. The former treasurer told The Jakarta post that the project was marred with nepotism, citing Tannos’ close ties with Indonesian politician Gamawan Fauzi.

Between 2011 and 2013, Tannos was said to have embezzled around 140 billion rupiah of project funds.

His failure to cooperate with a corruption probe into the project by the Indonesian anti-graft body the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) – which according to The Jakarta Post was opened in 2013 – led to him being named a fugitive on the country’s most wanted list in 2021.

In 2016, it was reported that an investigative team from the KPK was sent to Singapore to question key witnesses – companies that had won the tender for the e-KTP project – as a consortium of companies had fled to Singapore after KPK launched corruption investigations in 2013.

Family bankruptcy

Tannos and his family were declared bankrupt by an Indonesian court in 2020 over failure to pay a 200 billion rupiah loan of a company the Tannos family stood as guarantors for, The Straits Times reported. 

The family – himself, his wife Lina Rawung and their daughters Pauline and Catherine – was allegedly guarantor of a loan taken on by an Indonesian company, PT Megalestari Unggul (MLU), that Tannos was a majority shareholder of.

His daughter was also involved in the e-KTP case, according to BBC News Indonesia.

In 2011, MLU was granted a loan from another Indonesian company, The Straits Times reported.

When it could not repay the debt in 2012, the creditors moved to make Penundaan Kewajiban Pembayaran Utang (PKPU) orders against the family. Under Indonesian bankruptcy law, PKPU orders temporarily suspend a debtor’s repayment obligations so it can propose to creditors a loan restructuring plan. A bankruptcy order is made against a debtor if it fails to propose a plan approved by the majority of its creditors.

Attempts to serve the family notice of the PKPU proceedings failed as their registered Indonesian address was “incomplete” and the family was absent at the court proceedings.

Their lawyers attended later meetings with the creditors, but the meetings did not lead to a successful loan restructuring plan, resulting in the Indonesian court pronouncing MLU insolvent and the Tannos family bankrupt.

The court appointed individuals to administer the insolvency process, and as receivers and administrators of the Tannos family’s estate, which included property the family owned in Singapore.

Capture in Singapore

Indonesia requested Tannos’ arrest on Dec 19, 2024. The CPIB applied for an arrest warrant for Tannos on Jan 17. The the courts issued the warrant and arrested him on the same day. Since his arrest, Tannos has been in remand without bail.

He produced a diplomatic passport from West African country Guinea-Bissau through his lawyer, Hamidul Haq from Rajah and Tann, during his court mention on Jan 23.

Hamidul raised to the court the issue of whether his client’s detention was legal as he held a diplomatic passport. 

The State Counsel rebutted that Tannos’ possession of the passport does not grant him diplomatic immunity that precludes arrest or extradition. Checks by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also showed that he did not have diplomatic status and was not accredited with the ministry.

When asked by the judge if he would be willing to surrender to a foreign state, Tannos said he was willing to go back to Guinea-Bissau but not Indonesia.

On Feb 24, Singapore received Indonesia’s formal request for Tannos’ extradition, along with relevant documents.

The request and documents are currently under review by the AGC and CPIB. Once all extradition requirements are met, the case will return to court where a formal extradition order will begin, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Mar 10.

Tannos could be extradited in six months or less if the extradition is not contested. However, the full legal process may take up to two years if it is complex and contested at every juncture, the minister said.

He has told the court he will contest the extradition.

His last scheduled court hearing was on Mar 7, but he was in the hospital. He is scheduled for another mention on Mar 13 and a bail review on Mar 19.

Source: The Business Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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