When he was 17, Tjandra traveled to Irian Jaya (now Papua province), where in 1968 he opened a grocery store named Toko Sama-Sama in the provincial capital, Jayapura.
Tjandra was present in his capacity as director of Era Giat Prima, a company which collected a commission of Rp546 billion for IBRA releasing the funds.
The day before the verdict was handed down, Tjandra on 10 June 2009 flew on a chartered plane from Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma Airport to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
[5][6] After that decision, then-Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo was called to a meeting by chief security minister Wiranto, who wanted him to study a recommendation to clear Tjandra from his legal entanglement.
On 29 April 2012, he was granted PNG citizenship by Ano Pala, even though he did not meet constitutional requirements and his name was on the Interpol Red Notice Alert as a wanted fugitive.
[10] Mahfud later said police informed him that Tjandra's name had been taken off Interpol's list of fugitives in 2014 because the Indonesian Attorney General's Office had never requested an extension.
South Grogol Urban Village head Asep Subhandi said the card was issued within less than one hour, after he was contacted by Tjandra's lawyer on 3 June 2020.
National Police international relations division head Inspector General Napoleon Bonaparte was found to have violated ethics, while National Central Bureau (NCB)-Interpol Indonesia secretary Brigadier General Nugroho Wibowo had on 5 May 2020 sent a letter to Indonesian Immigration, stating the Interpol red notice against Djoko Tjandra was withdrawn, prompting Immigration to erase Tjandra's name from its watch-list.
[24] Testifying in November 2020 at Sumardi's trial, Bonaparte said that when Sumardi had asked him to remove the Interpol red notice on Tjandra, the businessman had mentioned the names of then-National Police Criminal Investigation Agency chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, lawmaker Azis Syamsuddin and People's Consultative Assembly speaker Bambang Soesatyo.
On 29 December 2020, Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court convicted Sumardi of corruption for his role in helping Tjandra to bribe the two senior police, sentencing him to two years in jail and fining him Rp100 million.
[26] On 11 August 2020, the Attorney General’s Office arrested prosecutor Pinangki Sirna Malasari for allegedly accepting bribes of $500,000 in connection with efforts to assist Tjandra.
[28] The Attorney General's Office on 8 September 2020 said Pinangki had used part of the $500,000 (Rp 7.5 billion) to fund a luxury lifestyle, such as purchasing a BMW X series car, paying for body and facial care, and renting an apartment for Rp75 million a month.
Director of Investigations, Febrie Adriansyah, said Pinangki had transferred the money to a bank account of her younger sibling, Pungki Primarini, in an effort to avoid detection.
The money from Djoko Tjandra was described as a down-payment for arranging an acquittal from the Supreme Court, with the assistance of NasDem Party politician Andi Irfan Jaya.
The following day, Tjandra's brother-in-law Herriyadi Angga Kusuma gave $500,000 to Andi near Senayan City Mall as a down-payment for the bribe.
[33] On 22 December 2020, East Jakarta District Court sentenced Djoko Tjandra to two years and six months in jail for falsification of travel documents, COVID-19 test certificates and health recommendation letters.
Presiding judge M. Sirad said that although Tjandra had committed the crimes while a fugitive and endangered public health by traveling without a COVID-19 test, he was spared a heavier sentence because he is elderly and had been polite during his trial.
[34] On 5 April 2021, Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court convicted Djoko Tjandra of corruption for giving bribes that went to two police officers and a state prosecutor.
He earlier said his actions were not a big problem because the payments had caused no state losses and were made in Malaysia, so there should be no domestic relationship to Indonesia.
Tjandra said he gave Andi Irfan Jaya $500,000 as a down-payment for a requested $1 million fee for Pinangki to secure a Supreme Court fatwa that would enable him to return to Indonesia without serving his 2 year jail sentence from 2009.
[37] "I appeal to Your Excellencies, the panel of judges who are trying this case, to be willing to release me, the defendant Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra, from all of the indictments and demands of the public prosecutor.
Tjandra told the court that former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak had advised him to contact Tommy Sumardi in order to help him to enter Indonesia to register his request for a review of his 2009 corruption conviction and jail sentence.
[38] Defense lawyer Susilo Ariwibowo on 12 April 2021 said Tjandra had filed an appeal against his conviction because the court had disregarded the defense's claim that the crime took place outside Indonesia, and that Djoko had canceled the plan to pay the Supreme Court after making a down-payment, and that he did not know Inspector General Napoleon Bonaparte and Brigadier General Prasetijo Utomo because Tommy Sumadi never told him about them.