Jan.26, 2010

Corruption convict Robert Tantular will be tried on charges money laundering, the Attorney General’s Office said on Monday, despite its earlier claim that he could not be tried again for a crime related to the PT Bank Century embezzlement case.

“The police have notified us that Tantular is to be charged with money laundering,” AGO spokesman Didiek Darmanto said in Jakarta. “The general crimes division is now awaiting the charging documents from the police.”

Tantular is currently serving a five-year jail term for violating banking laws stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from his Bank Century and giving out fraudulent loans.

He had appealed his four-year sentence this month, but the Jakarta High Court not only upheld his conviction but added one year to his jail term.

Marwan Effendy, the AGO deputy for special crimes, had said earlier that Tantular would not be charged again based on the legal principle of double jeopardy, which bars a person from being tried twice for the same crime. But responding to questions from journalists on Monday, he revised his statement.

“It is possible for [Tantular] to be charged with money laundering,” said Marwan, who is in charge of handling corruption cases with the AGO. “What I said earlier was that we couldn’t prosecute him under the Anti-Corruption Law.”

The AGO classifies money laundering and tax fraud as general crimes that are handled by a different division.

Law expert Chairul Huda said the country’s legal system allowed a convict to receive multiple jail terms for the same crime as long as the combination didn’t exceed 20 years .

“If Tantular is sentenced to 20 years in his second trial, his previous term should be ignored. If the sentence is less, it will be added to the first as long as the combination of both doesn’t exceed 20 years,” he told the Jakarta Globe.