Drama Of Adelin Lis' Repatriation, Illegal Logging Fugitive Hiding In Singapore

The convict of the illegal logging case, Adelin Lis, is presented at a press conference regarding his repatriation at the Attorney General's Office, Jakarta, Saturday, June 19. (Photo: Hafidz Mubarak A/Antara)

JAKARTA - The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has succeeded in repatriating the fugitive from the illegal logging case, Adelin Lis, who tried to hide in Singapore. The repatriation process was full of drama.

The repatriation of the high-profile fugitive began when Adelin Lis was arrested when he entered Singapore in March 2021. He was arrested by the Singaporean authorities for using a fake passport under the name Hendro Leonardi.

After the news of the arrest was heard, the AGO immediately acted quickly by cooperating with the Indonesian Embassy in lobbying the Singaporean government to deport Adelin Lis. This is because the fugitive is known to be slippery because he has run away twice.

Thus, Attorney General ST Burhanuddin asked his staff to be on standby in Singapore. While the negotiation process continues.

"The Attorney General asked Adelin Lis to be immediately brought to Jakarta. The AGO team in Singapore is already on standby there for repatriation. And it must be taken to Jakarta, not to any other place," said Head of the AGO's Legal Information Center (Kapuspenkum) Leonard Eben Ezer Simanjuntak, Wednesday, June 16.

In fact, the Attorney General asked the Indonesian Embassy to reject all lobbying efforts from the family and the fugitive's lawyer. This is because there is a request that Adelin Lis be sent back to Medan, North Sumatra.

"Prosecutor General Burhanuddin rejected Adelin Lis' wishes, because law enforcement is the absolute authority of the Attorney General's Office. Pak Burhanuddin ordered the Indonesian Embassy to only allow Adelin Lis to be deported to Jakarta," Leonard said.

On the other hand, the AGO is also preparing two scenarios to repatriate Adelin Lis. First, by bringing him from Singapore using a chartered plane.

"The first scenario, we do the pick-up by renting a charter plane," he said.

Meanwhile, the second scenario involves repatriating the fugitive using a commercial aircraft, Garuda Indonesia airline.

Two days later, the AGO finally succeeded in repatriating Adelin Lis to Indonesia. He was repatriated using a Garuda Indonesia commercial aircraft which is scheduled to land at Soekarno-Hatta Airport at around 19.40 western Indonesia time.

During the repatriation process, Adelin Lis was treated like a high-risk convict. In fact, when he was in Singapore, he was under extra strict guard.

"At 18.40 Singapore time, the convict got on Garuda flight GA-837. Then when the convict entered Singapore (Changi) Airport, four officers from the Singapore police carried out a fairly strict escort by treating the convict as a high-risk DPO," said Leonard.

In fact, when taken to Indonesia by airplane, Adelin Lis was also escorted without a gap. There are at least two officers from the Prosecutor's Office sitting on his left and right.

"The convict sat in seat number 57T. Meanwhile, two officers of the Adhyaksa Corps flanked him in seats number 57D and 57F," said Leonard.

However, Leonard emphasized that Adelin Lis would be executed immediately. That means he will be incarcerated.

"The execution (of the agency) starts from today," he said.

To prevent COVID-19, Adelin Lis will first be quarantined at the Salemba Detention Center, Jakarta branch of the AGO. This is to make sure he is negative for COVID-19.

"Furthermore, the convicts will be subjected to a 14-day health quarantine. We will place them in the Salemba detention center at the AGO branch to be executed in prison," said Leonard.

However, due to the implementation of the health protocol, the execution of fines and compensation for money cannot be carried out. The execution will be carried out after the quarantine period is complete.

For information, Adelin Lis is a fugitive from corruption and illegal logging cases. At that time he was the Director of PT Keang Nam Development Indonesia who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2008.

In addition, Adelin Lis was also fined Rp. 1 billion and a substitute money of Rp119.8 billion, and a reforestation fund of US$2.938 million.

Adelin has been running from Indonesia since November 2007. In 2018, she was arrested by the Singaporean authorities for a passport forgery case. A Singapore court then ordered him to pay a fine of 14,000 Singapore dollars and be deported.