Tentative court hearing dates set for Indonesian fugitive facing extradition from Singapore

SINGAPORE: A businessman facing extradition to Indonesia for his suspected involvement in a graft case had tentative court hearing dates set for June after maintaining on Tuesday (Mar 25) that he will be challenging his remand. 

Paulus Tannos, a Singapore permanent resident who holds a diplomatic passport from West African country Guinea-Bissau, is wanted by Indonesian authorities for his role in a corruption case linked to the government's electronic ID card project.

The case is said to have caused the state about 2.3 trillion rupiah (US$140 million) in losses.

Tannos, who has been living in Singapore since 2017, was first remanded without bail after he was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau on Jan 17, pending a formal request for extradition from Indonesia. 

Singapore received the formal request on Feb 24.

Tannos, who also goes by the name Tjhin Thian Po, is contesting the extradition. 

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam previously said that Tannos can be extradited in six months or less if he consents to it. Otherwise, the full legal process, if challenged at every step of the way, could take two years.

Tannos appeared in court via video-link on Tuesday, with parties conferring on dates for a committal hearing about sending him back to Indonesia. Similar to previous hearings, Tannos, looking thin, was dressed in white and had a Bahasa Indonesia interpreter. 

Tannos' lawyer Hassan Esa Almenoar said the appropriate date for the hearing would be in June after Tannos' application for bail is heard. The defence had filed the bail application in March. 

If bail is not granted, the defence will appeal in the High Court, Mr Almenoar said. 

State Counsel Sarah Siaw said the committal hearing would likely require up to two days and proposed for the dates to be set after the bail application hearing, which is scheduled for Apr 22. 

District Judge Brenda Tan set tentative dates of Jun 4 and Jun 23 for the hearing, pending Ms Siaw's confirmation of her team's availability. 

Mr Almenoar then asked the State Counsel who she would be calling as witnesses for the committal hearing, but the judge said parties could take this up separately, or have a pre-trial conference fixed for this purpose. 

As part of the usual procedure, Judge Tan asked Tannos if he wished to consent to be surrendered to the Indonesian government. Tannos said: "I do not consent, your honour."

He will return to court on Mar 28.