Yogyakarta – Transferring a graft convict notorious for his out-of jail jaunts to a higher-security prison will solve nothing as long as the systemic corruption that allowed the fiasco to play out remains unaddressed, a leading activist says.

Disgraced tax official Gayus Tambunan, serving a 30-year sentence for bribery, money-laundering and passport forgery, made waves yet again this past week when a photo circulated online purporting to show him at a restaurant in Jakarta.

He previously pulled an identical stunt while supposedly remanded in jail in 2010 awaiting trial, during which he managed to obtain a fake passport, fly to Singapore and Macau to gamble, and attend an international tennis tournament in Bali.

The Justice Ministry, which is in charge of the nation's prison, has responded to the latest incident by transferring Gayus from the Sukamiskin Penitentiary in Bandung to the high-security Gunung Sindur prison in Bogor, built specifically for drug offenders.

It did not, however, punish the Sukamiskin prison guards who allowed Gayus out – even though the convict has a history of bribing police and prison guards to let him out of jail for extended periods of time.

"Is there any way he could have gotten out except by paying a bribe?" asked Busyro Muqoddas, a former deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). "It's quite clear that bribery was involved, but because this is a repeat offense, the [prison] system is obviously part of the problem."

Busyro, speaking at a discussion in Yogyakarta on Wednesday about the KPK's upcoming challenges, made the point that Gayus would never have gone on his jaunts if prison officials were doing their jobs properly.

"It's curious that a convict serving a 30-year sentence can just go out – be allowed out by his guards – and go and have a meal [at a restaurant]. This is not just a problem with the prison, but it goes all the way up to the [justice] minister," he said.

The minister, Yasonna Laoly, has responded to the case by calling Gayus "an idiot" for allowing himself to be photographed at the restaurant. Tellingly, he has not used the same language to refer to the prison officials at fault who ostensibly work under him.

"Who's the one who's really to blame here?" Busyro asked, adding that Yasonna needed to introspect on how he was managing the prison system. "It doesn't solve anything by transferring [Gayus to another prison]. The system also needs to be evaluated to see why this sort of thing is allowed to happen over and over again."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/prison-system-not-gayus-blame-inmates-outings-ex-KPK-chief-says/