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| Bungle keeps uncharged Aussie in Jakarta jail |
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been due to finally approve the extradition last month.
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ADAM GARTRELL -
March 8, 2010 -
A Rudd government bungle has condemned an Australian man to an extra two months in a squalid Jakarta jail without charge.
Robert McNeice, 44, has already spent 19 months in the jail after Indonesian police arrested him at Australia's request in August 2008.
Australia wants McNeice extradited to face charges for allegedly defrauding Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond and his nephew James out of $270,000 in 2003.
At the time of his arrest, McNeice was told he would have to wait about three months before being sent to Sydney.
But it took 11 months for an Indonesian court to even declare him eligible for extradition.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been due to finally approve the extradition last month.
But he delayed doing so after discovering Australia's original extradition request had the wrong name on it.
The document, signed by former home affairs minister Bob Debus and seen by AAP, requests the extradition of "Robert John McNeice". McNeice's middle name is actually James.
Dr Yudhoyono subsequently sent the request back to Indonesia's Law and Human Rights Ministry for clarification.
The Australian embassy has since moved to rectify the problem.
But McNeice says he's been told the bungle will add two months to his stay in Jakarta.
"Who is going to give me that two months back?" he told AAP.
"Who is going to take responsibility for all of this?"
The Australian attorney-general's department declined to comment on the stuff-up.
"It is not appropriate to comment on administrative matters relating to individual extradition matters," a spokesperson said.
Indonesian human rights groups are outraged McNeice has spent so long in detention without charge or trial and believe Australia's extradition application should have failed under Indonesian law.
AAP
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| Robert McNeice needs help |
An Australian man who has spent 18 months in a squalid Jakarta jail without trial has pleaded for help from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Robert James McNeice, a 44-year-old dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand, was arrested in Indonesia in August 2008 at Australia's request.
The former Sydney watch salesman is wanted in Australia for allegedly defrauding Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond and his nephew James out of $270,000 in 2003.
At the time of his arrest, authorities told McNeice he would have to wait about three months for extradition.
But he's now spent more than 18 months - about 540 days - in a cramped, rat-infested police lock-up in Jakarta's south.
He sleeps on a hard tile floor, shares a single toilet with up to 80 other men and has suffered dengue fever, malaria and other serious health complaints during his incarceration.
An Indonesian court declared him eligible for extradition seven months ago.
But he has no idea how much longer he will have to wait before Indonesia issues final approval and he is finally sent home to face charges.
He has formally requested assistance from the Australian government on two occasions but says he has received no response.
Desperate, Mr McNeice last week pleaded with Mr Rudd to intervene.
"I've been extremely patient," McNeice wrote in a letter to the prime minister, obtained by AAP.
"Enough is enough.
"Is it fair I sit here in the hardship of an Indonesian jail for one-and-a-half years without trial?"
McNeice says Australia has left him at the mercy of a "weak, broken and corrupt" system that has trampled on his human rights.
He wants Australia to abandon its extradition application and let him walk free.
"I'm only interested in my immediate liberty," he told Mr Rudd.
"I plead with you to take a simple and humane approach.
"I know that you are the ONLY one whom can deal with this matter in such a simple way.
"I'm not prepared to sit here any longer.
"No one can give me back the time that the system has taken from my life."
Indonesian human rights groups are outraged McNeice has spent so long in detention without charge or trial and believe Australia's extradition application should have failed under Indonesian law.
McNeice says lawyers have advised him that even if he were found guilty in Australia it is unlikely he would be sentenced to no more than a year in prison - less time than he has already served.
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