Bapindo trials will be a long road to justice

JAKARTA (JP): The first trials in the massive loan scandal at Bank Pembangunan Indonesia open today at the Central Jakarta District Court, with all signs pointing to a tough and drawn out legal battle.

Eddy Tansil, the businessman at the center of the Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million) Bapindo scandal, will appear before the court today on charges of corruption.

The trial marks the completion of a four-month long investigation by the Attorney General's office into how Tansil allegedly managed to cash in on more than $430 in illegal loans from Bapindo. Apparently, they did this while bypassing normal banking practices and ended up rendering the government-owned bank technically bankrupt.

Five former Bapindo executives have been named as co-suspects and their trials will be opened in the coming weeks.

The court players in Tansil's trial, which begins today, will add more controversy to the Bapindo case which has been a subject of public debate since it was exposed in January.

The judges, the government prosecutors and the defense lawyers are all at the top of their fields, so the trial promises to be a major court battle. Here is a brief summary of the players in the legal drama. Gani Djemat: Tansil's lawyer

Gani, 61, is owner of Gani Djemat and Associates, one of Indonesia's leading corporate law firms. He is a former naval prosecutor who opened his private practice in 1971.

Born in Curup, South Sumatra, he completed his study at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia in 1959. He also studied at the Naval Justice School in Newport, Rhode Island and received an Honorary Degree at the Court of Military Appeals in Washington, D.C..

He has eight children, three of whom work in his law firm. They are Humphrey R. Djemat, Buanita R. Rasyid Djemat and Casandra Rosita Djemat.

Gani is a member of the National Commission on Human Rights. He is also the current chairman of the Indonesian Lawyers Association (AAI) and a presiding member of the Association of the Indonesian Lawyers Organization (POPI).

He will be assisted by six lawyers from his firm: Soetarno Soedja, Humphrey Djemat, FXL Soewadi, Sintok Singh, Hasbullah Sani Anom and Djamhir Hamzah. Soetrisno: presiding judge

Soetrisno, the chief of the Central Jakarta District Court, hails from Kendal. He is 56-years old.

A 1964 graduate of the School of Law, Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, he is well respected in his profession after stints at Tegal (Central Java), Minahasa (North Sulawesi), Pontianak (West Kalimantan) and Yogyakarta.

He will be assisted by Tuaraja Siregar and A. Gatam Taridi. Lukman Bachmid: the chief prosecutor

Lukman Bachmid, 53, hails from Manado, North Sulawesi.

An alumni of the School for Judges and Prosecutors, he graduated from the School of Law of the Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, in 1975.

He began his career as a government prosecutor in Central Sulawesi, then to Surabaya, Semarang, Deli Serdang (North Sumatra), Banyuwangi (East Java).

In January this year, he joined the Special Crimes Division of the Attorney General's Office and was a member of the investigation team of the Bapindo scandal.

Lukman has handled many corruption cases in the past.

He will be assisted by Kunto Surono, Slamet Subagyo and Soedarto. (02)