Businessman Tansil charged with corruption

JAKARTA (JP): Eddy Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group, was arraigned in the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday, marking the start of what is billed by the press as the biggest corruption trial in Indonesian history.

The government prosecutors accused Tansil of obtaining and cashing in on loans from the government-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) by illegal means, causing the state to lose $449 million, or the equivalent of Rp 962 billion.

Lukman Bachmid, who is leading the prosecution, charged Tansil with the 1971 anti-corruption law, violation of which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

"His action obstructed the government's programs in development and economy causing the state, through Bank Pembangunan Indonesia, to lose $436,441,500 in addition to $12,437,280 worth of discount facilities granted by the bank," Lukman told the court.

Tansil, dressed in a brown batik shirt and white pants, appeared nervous at times during the three-hour session, which heard Lukman reading the charges, on corruption and also for forgery.

In spite of the tense atmosphere, he did throw smiles now and then at the mob of photographers and cameramen who blocked his path when he arrived at the court building in the morning.

The trial was adjourned until Saturday, when Tansil is expected to present his defense statement. The 40-year old businessman, who also goes by the names Tan Tju Fuan and Tan Tjoe Hong, is represented in the trial by Gani Djemat and Partners, a powerful corporate law firm. Gani and four other lawyers from his company represented Tansil at the meeting.

Tansil is the first of at least six people whom the Attorney General's office is planning to prosecute in relation with the loan scandal at Bapindo.

The other five are all former executives of the bank.

The actual losses may be bigger than the $448 million suggested in the dossiers for Tansil. One estimate puts it at Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million), if interest payments are included, and others guess this goes as high as Rp 1.7 trillion ($810 million).

The previous largest corruption case brought before the court was in 1991 against Dicky Iskandar Dinata, an executive of the private Bank Duta, who was given 10 years imprisonment for his speculative trading, causing the bank to lose $416 million.

The government, under strong pressure to recover some of the Bapindo losses, has already confiscated many of Tansil's assets and those belonging to Golden Key Group. They include a number of houses, uncompleted petrochemical projects in the Cilegon industrial town in West Java, an islet off Cilegon, and vehicles. It has also blocked various bank accounts under his and his company's name.

These are worth a total of about Rp 200 billion, according to one unofficial estimate.

According to the prosecution, Tansil, individually and in collaboration with others, "sought to enrich himself".

Tansil since 1989 had secured a series of loans from Bapindo to help finance his petrochemical projects, but most of these bypassed normal banking practices.

The prosecution said between 1989 and 1992 he also managed to cash letters of credit from the bank into his own accounts, rather than to his suppliers as stated on his loan application, with the assistance of Bapindo insiders.

Bank officials helped him do this by illegally changing the variety of credit he had, converting his notes to red clause L/Cs, which are basically unsupervised.

According to the prosecution, Tansil siphoned off the Bapindo funds to pay off previous credits with Bapindo and other banks, finance other industrial projects belonging to the Golden Key Group, buy properties including an island, opened up new deposit accounts and gave gifts to his relatives.

Presiding at the trial is Judge Soetrisno, the chief of the Central Jakarta District Court.

The small courtroom used for the trial was packed with journalists, TV crews and observers.

According to court sources, a total of 61 witnesses have been lined up for the trial, and the list includes Navy Admiral (ret.) Sudomo, currently the chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council.

It is not clear however whether Sudomo, who introduced Tansil to Bapindo in 1989, would be summoned to testify because he has already given a deposition to the Attorney General's office. (02)