Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the surprise announcement on Tuesday that contrary to statements from Indonesian lawmakers and officials, Democrat lawmaker Muhammad Nazaruddin was not in the city-state and in fact had not been for weeks.

"Mr. Nazaruddin is not in Singapore and has not been here for some time," a ministry spokesman said. "This information was conveyed to the Indonesian authorities several weeks ago, long before he was named a suspect by Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] on 30 June 2011."

The spokesman said that talk of possibly extraditing the Indonesian lawmaker had been in vain, "since Mr. Nazaruddin had not been charged with any crime or even named as a suspect at the time he was in Singapore and had a valid Indonesian passport, there was no reason to stop him from entering or leaving the country."

When asked about Nazaruddin's present whereabouts, the spokesman said: "I do not know as we do not track people after they leave Singapore. The Indonesian authorities were informed of his destination at time of departure which is all the information we had."

The announcement came one day after the KPK announced it would be seeking the help of Interpol in an effort to force the errant lawmaker to return to Indonesia. Earlier on Tuesday, Nazaruddin's own party announced it would be reporting him to the police for defamation against fellow Democrats.