Bapindo boss gives details of loan losses

JAKARTA (JP): Bapindo President Director Achmad Marzuki said the government bank lost a total of Rp 1.05 trillion, or US$489 million, from its transactions with Eddy Tansil.

The total represents what the bank has paid out since Tansil first took out a loan at the bank in 1989 and includes the losses from interest earnings and discounts in issuing bankers' acceptances, Achmad said in his testimony at Tansil's trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on Saturday.

In addition, Bapindo still has to pay out another $15 million in August to honor the bankers' acceptance issued for one of Tansil's companies, Achmad said.

He stressed that the losses will be covered by the state which owns the bank.

Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group, is being tried for defrauding Bapindo in collusion with bank insiders. The state's case says Tansil took a total of $448 million from Bapindo by illicit means. He is charged with corruption and fraud.

A Bapindo branch executive is also being tried separately while four of its former directors are currently under investigation, all suspected to have colluded with Tansil.

Achmad told the court on Saturday that he did not know the total value of Tansil's assets that have been confiscated, including bank accounts that were frozen, by the Attorney General.

Meanwhile, Tansil's lawyers disclosed to the court that a shipment of equipment for the petrochemical project ordered by Golden Key's affiliate PT Graha Swakarsa Prima is arriving at the Tanjung Priok port on Thursday.

The equipment is being purchased from Lucky Engineering of South Korea with a letters of credit issued by Bapindo, said the lawyers, who sought a court ruling on the ownership of the shipment.

Judge Soetrisno responded that the court will decide what to do with the equipment later.

Tansil had earlier denied that his loans at Bapindo had turned sour and said that the various petrochemical projects that were to be financed by the loans could still have been completed if he had not been arrested.

The court on Saturday also heard details of some of Tansil's private bank accounts.

Amelia Zainan, a head of Danamon Bank's Tamansari branch, testified that Tansil transferred some Rp 178 billion ($84 million) to a bank in the Cayman Islands from a private account at Danamon.

This same account received a total of $113 million from Bumi Daya International Finance between 1991 and 1992, she said.

This account held only Rp 8 million ($3,800) when it was frozen by the government early this year.

Yap Tjok Hee of Danamon's Kota branch said a private Tansil account there saw more than 400 transactions between 1992 and 1994, receiving billions of rupiah from Golden Step Development, a Hong Kong based company Tansil owned.

Yap said when the government froze some 14 accounts at the bank under Tansil's his companies's names, the amount was Rp 480 million ($228,000) (05/par)