Bapindo prosecution hobbled

Bapindo prosecution hobbled

JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers defending businessman Eddy Tansil in the
Bapindo scandal laid into prosecutors on Saturday, pointing out
holes in the government's case which they say render the dossier
defective.

Gani Djemat, the senior lawyer in Tansil's defense team,
attacked prosecution on four separate points: First, he said the
prosecution's case was too vague. Second, the Central Jakarta
District Court did not have the authority to try the case given
that most of the alleged crimes took place in South Jakarta.
Third, prosecutors had changed their dossier more than once after
the court had set the trial date, amounting to a serious breach
of judicial procedure. Finally, all the allegations revolving
around bank fraud were the jurisdiction of civil and not criminal
court.

Gani Djemat, of Gani and Partners at law, was accompanied by
four other lawyers when he launched his defense on Saturday.

The second hearing on Saturday allowed for Tansil and his
lawyers to read their defense statement.

Like in the first trial, the courtroom was packed with people
who came to boo and jeer the defendant who is now being tried in
the biggest corruption case ever brought before a court.

"Death to Tansil", "Hang him" were some of the shouts heard
from the crowd as Tansil was whisked into the courthouse, an old
white building dating back to the Dutch.

Emotions ran high through the whole proceeding. The yells and
catcalls from the crowd rose each time Gani raised a new point in
his defense statement.

Later when Gani demanded that his client be put under house
arrest, the crowd quickly roared him down. "What? So that he can
rob some more?" shouted one crowd.

Tansil is the main suspect in the Rp 1.3 trillion loan scandal
at the government-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).

Government prosecutors say Tansil, in collusion with other
directors of his Golden Key Group of companies and Bapindo
executives, obtained and disbursed credits from the government
bank by illegal means, causing the government to lose a total sum
of $449 million (Rp. 962 billion).

He is being charged with the 1971 anti-corruption law, an
offense that carries the maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

However, as pointed out by Gani in his defense statement, the
prosecution is also slapping a legislation dealing with economic
crime against the state, issued in 1959. If Tansil were convicted
of these crimes, which are tantamount to treason, he would face
execution.

The lawyer questioned the use of the 1959 article which refers
to actions of treason against the state and the president and
vice president, including threatening the food supply of the
nation, and thwarting the government's programs to organize state
security and the fight against imperialism.

The article is "out of date and has no relevance to this case
at all," Gani said. He stressed that its use was both excessive
and inappropriate from a legal standpoint.

The government prosecution is lead by Lukman Bachmid, a member
of the Attorney General's Economic Crime Division.

Chief of the Central Jakarta Court Soetrisno is personally
presiding over the trial which is expected to bring more than 60
witnesses and last up to five months.

The hearing on Saturday was adjourned to Tuesday when the
prosecution is scheduled to respond to the defense statement, and
for the defense lawyers will have their say once more.

Saturday, there was no attempt on Gani's part to establish a
defense. Instead, he went on the offensive to take the
prosecution case apart on technical and procedural points.

He said that the government's case itself illustrates that
this was about the relations between a creditor and a bank and
that if any violation had taken place as alleged, then it should
be dealt with in accordance with the terms of the loan agreement.

"This is essentially a civil case," Gani said.

He pointed out that some of the alleged deviations from normal
banking practices were consented to by the bank's executives.

He also underlined that some of the "bad loans" that had been
included in the dossier had not, in fact, reached maturity at the
time the government launched its investigation in February. He
said that his client had not received any demands or warnings
from the bank about having to pay back the loans, as is standard
banking practice.

Gani said the prosecutors made alterations to their dossier on
May 2, on the day the court set the first hearing. This not only
violate the court's procedures but also disrupted the defense
lawyers in preparing a case for their client.

He pointed out many other weaknesses in the dossiers,
including vague wordings, and one entire page was repeated word
for word.

Besides Tansil, five former Bapindo executives have been
detained in connection with the loan scandal.

One of them, Maman Suparman who was formerly deputy manager of
Bapindo branch in Jakarta, is scheduled to appear before the
South Jakarta District Court where he will be arraigned today.
(02)