Jakarta. Indonesian Football Federation chairman and graft suspect La Nyalla Mattalitti was declared a fugitive after reports surfaced that he fled the country on the same day he was named a suspect.

The East Java Prosecutors' Office named La Nyalla as a suspect on March 17 for allegedly misappropriating billions of rupiah the provincial administration paid in grants to the East Java Chamber of Trade and Industry in 2012, during his time as chairman.

The charges against La Nyalla, who now chairs the national football federation, known as the PSSI, were announced on the day he left the country for Malaysia, East Java Prosecutors' Office chief Maruli Hutagalung told reporters at his office on Tuesday (29/03). Immigration authorities have no record that La Nyalla has returned to Indonesia.

"That's what we were told. We still don't know [if La Nyalla] is in Indonesia or abroad," Maruli said on Monday, as quoted by Detik.com.

Prosecutors decided on Monday to issue a warrant for La Nyalla's arrest after he ignored three summonses to appear for questioning in the case. However, they discovered that the suspect was not at his home and that he had been abroad all this time.

Heru Santoso Yudha, a spokesman for the justice ministry's immigration directorate general, told Tempo on Tuesday that La Nyalla skipped the country before a travel ban could be imposed on him.

"We received the letter [requesting a travel ban from prosecutors] after [March 17],” he said, adding that La Nyalla, who traveled to Malaysia on a Garuda Indonesia flight, was recorded by immigration officials at the Soekarno Hatta International Airport when he left.

The remark contradicts an earlier claim by the prosecutor's office that immigration authorities had imposed a six-month travel ban on La Nyalla on March 16.

La Nyalla's lawyer, Ahmad Riyadh, confirmed that his client was out of the country.

"Which country exactly, I have no idea," he told Tempo on Tuesday.

Riyadh said he last talked with his client over the phone on Monday. The lawyer said he was unaware at the time that his client was overseas. He added that he did not know why La Nyalla left, or when he would return home.

Romy Arizyanto, head of enforcement at the provincial prosecutor's office, said a decision was made on Tuesday to declare La Nyalla a fugitive.

"We will coordinate with Interpol if the suspect is indeed out of Indonesia," he told reporters, as quoted by Detik.