All set for second Bapindo courtroom battle

All set for second Bapindo courtroom battle

By Imanuddin

JAKARTA (JP): The stage is set for the trial of the second
suspect in the Rp 1.3 trillion (US$620 million) loan scandal at
the government-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).

Maman Suparman, formerly deputy manager of Bapindo's Jakarta
branch, is scheduled to appear at the South Jakarta District
Court today for arraignment, also on corruption charges.

Like the case of businessman Eddy Tansil, the first and main
suspect who is being tried in Central Jakarta District Court,
Maman's trial promises to be another stiff courtroom battle
involving judges, public prosecutors and lawyers who are at the
top of their respective professions.

Maman, 48, was born in Cianjur, West Java. He graduated from
the School of Economics at the University of Indonesia in 1973
and joined Bapindo the following year.

Preliminary investigations suggest that he played a prominent
role in allowing Tansil to disburse huge loans from the bank,
disregarding standard procedures.

During the course of the official investigation, he dragged
four Bapindo directors along with him amid suggestions that he
was acting with their consent.

Allegations have since surfaced that the four other middle
level Bapindo managers may have been involved.

The four former Bapindo directors currently under
investigation are Subekti Ismaun, Towil Heryoto, Syahrizal and
Bambang Kuntjoro.

It is not known whether Maman cut a deal during the
investigation to implicate other suspects.

The following is a brief synopsis of some of the major players
in the upcoming courtroom battle:

Soedjatman: the presiding judge

Soedjatman is the chief of the South Jakarta District Court.

The 59-year old who hails from Blora, Central Java, has
clocked 35 years working as a judge.

His court career dates back to 1959 in Pati (Central Java),
before moving to Rembang (Central Java) in 1970, Kudus (Central
Java) in 1979 and then on to Denpasar (Bali) in 1984 when he was
made chief of the district court. Two years later he became chief
of the court in Palembang (South Sumatra) and in 1991 he took
over the South Jakarta District Court.

He studied law at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and
obtained his master's degree at Diponegoro University in
Semarang, Central Java in 1967.

His most celebrated cases involve foreigners and drug charges
during his stint in Bali. He also handled a major timber
smuggling case in Palembang.

Soedjatman will be assisted by judges Pieter S. Purba and
Stefanus Soetrisno during the trial.

Denny Kailimang: Suparman's lawyer

Denny, 46, is one of the country's best known criminal and
civil lawyers because of the nature of cases he has handled. His
resume includes defending Moslem preachers Andi Mappetahang Fatwa
and Abdul Qadir Djaelani who were charged with subversion in the
1980s, and defending businessmen against corruption charges in
reforestation cases in Lampung and South Kalimantan.

He also represented the children of Haji Achmad Thaher in
their fight against the government in a Singapore court for the
huge estate of their father.

Denny, the senior partner at the Rudy A. Lontoh, Denny
Kailimang and associates law firm, began his legal career in
1978.

Hailing from Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, he completed his
studies at the Faculty of Law of the Parahyangan Catholic
University in 1975. He worked for several companies before
finally deciding to make the law his career.

He is the secretary of the Jakarta Lawyers Club, secretary
general of the Indonesian Lawyers Association, a member of the
ASEAN Law Association and a member of the Law Association for
Asia and the Pacific.

Mohammad Yamin: the chief prosecutor

Not much is known about the 50-year old public prosecutor
except that he has been working as a public prosecutor since
1966. He has managed to shun the press, a skill he most likely
learned during his younger days as a journalist for the KAMI
daily newspaper.

Yamin is a member of the Attorney General's Economic Crime
Division who was appointed to lead the government's team in the
trial.

The 1980 law graduate from Hasanuddin University in
Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, co-wrote a 1987 book on anti-
corruption law with Baharuddin Lopa, the Director General of
Correctional Institution.

Yamin will be assisted at the trial by Charles Mouw, Nurdin
Salamin and Widyo Pramono.