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)