Bapindo official tried for role in Rp 1.3t scam
JAKARTA (JP): Maman Suparman, formerly deputy manager of Bapindo's branches in Jakarta, was arraigned yesterday at the South Jakarta District Court on charges of corruption.
Government prosecutors told the court that Maman helped businessman Eddy Tansil cash large credits from Bank Pembangunan Indonesia in violation of standard banking practices.
Maman was directly involved in the disbursement of some US$174 million, or Rp 348 billion, worth of loans from the government bank between December 1989 and May 1992, according to the prosecution.
Maman was accused of accepting bribes totaling Rp 256 million ($119,460) from Tansil for his services.
His actions "were harmful to state finances and the economy," Mohammad Yamin, who is leading the prosecution team, said.
The prosecutor charged Maman under the 1971 anti-corruption law, violation of which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Maman, who turned 48 on Sunday, is the second person to be brought before the court in connection with the Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million) scandal at Bapindo.
Tansil, owner of the Golden Key Group and the main suspect in the scandal, is being tried at the Central Jakarta District Court while four former Bapindo directors are currently under investigation.
The diminutive Maman, who turned up in a white long-sleeve shirt and black pants, remained impassive during the two-and-a- half hour hearing although his face looked pale.
In marked contrast to Tansil's trial, the spectators at yesterday's hearing were calm. There were no abusive or hostile shouts that have colored Tansil's hearings.
Police, however, were taking no chances, deploying as many as 300 officers to guard almost every corner of the court building.
The tiny court room, which could only seat 50 spectators, was filled and most people, including hordes of journalists, were forced to follow the trial through a speaker installed outside the room.
According to the prosecution, Maman signed several letters of credit between 1989 and 1992 for the benefit of companies under the Golden Key Group. They were co-signed by J. Sukardi, head of the division of foreign service of the Jakarta branch.
The credits were issued to finance the purchase of machinery and equipment, but Maman never insisted on seeing the sales contracts when he signed the letters of credit nor did he ask the bank's credit analysts to produce a report as is normally required of such loans.
Maman, according to the prosecution, also converted many of these usance letters of credit into red clause ones without the written approval of his superiors.
These conversions, and the change of the name of beneficiaries from South Korean and Chinese suppliers to a Hong Kong-based firm owned by Tansil, allowed the businessmen to cash in on the loans.
Rp 500,000 each
The prosecution also reached back to 1984 when Maman served at Bapindo's branches in Bandung, Surabaya and Jakarta and found that he had taken Rp 500,000 for each credit he helped approve.
Excluding the bribe he allegedly took from Tansil, Maman received a total of Rp 306 million ($143,000) from his clients, the prosecutors said.
The Attorney General's office has already confiscated a luxury house in the exclusive Pulo Mas area of East Jakarta owned by Maman, worth an estimated Rp 200 million, and frozen many of his bank accounts.
The hearing was adjourned until Thursday when Maman's lawyers will present their defense.
Maman's trial, which is being presided over by the Chief of the South Jakarta District Court Soedjatman, will include the testimony of at least 29 witnesses, according to court sources.
Denny Kailimang, one of Indonesia's top criminal and corporate lawyers, who has been retained by Maman, yesterday urged the judge to place his client under house arrest so that he could better prepare his defense.
Denny said there was no reason to keep Maman under arrest and pointed out that his client had already lost five kilograms since he was detained on Feb. 16. (05)