Fugitive Indonesian businessman seeks bail while facing extradition

An Indonesian businessman, who was allegedly involved in a corruption case in Indonesia and is in remand in Singapore, has applied for bail while facing extradition proceedings.

- Samuel Devaraj

At a hearing at the State Courts on March 13, Deputy Senior State Counsel Sarah Siaw said documents for the bail application for Paulus Tannos, who is in his 60s, were submitted on March 11.

Tannos, who is also known as Tjhin Thian Po, was arrested here on Jan 17 after being implicated in a major graft scandal involving the Indonesian government's electronic ID card or e-KTP project.

It allegedly caused state losses of about 2.3 trillion rupiah (S$186 million).

On March 10, Singapore's Ministry of Law said Indonesia put in a formal extradition request on Feb 24.

Ms Siaw said that enclosed in the documents submitted by Tannos' lawyer, Mr Bachoo Mohan Singh, were various assertions that required the prison authorities' input.