Court overrules Tansil's objections, trial proceeds

Court overrules Tansil's objections, trial proceeds

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court decided
yesterday to proceed with the corruption trial of businessman
Eddy Tansil, overruling all the objections raised by his lawyers.

Presiding Judge Soetrisno said at the hearing yesterday that
the government prosecutors have a valid case against Tansil, the
main suspect in the trial over the Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million)
fraud at the government-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia.

He dismissed all four points argued by lawyer Gani Djemat in
his defense statement last Saturday saying they were
"unreasonable."

"We will proceed with the case," he said.

Gani's team protested the court's decision and demanded that
their objection to the judge's ruling be noted for the record.

The trial was adjourned to Tuesday to prepare for the
testimony of five of the 61 prosecution and defense witnesses
lined up by the court for the case. The first five are Kusno
A.J., Antonius Widjaya, Suhanda, Suhandi and Irianto -- all
executives of the Golden Key Group which is owned by Tansil.

The businessman has been accused of fraud, securing loans from
Bapindo, and disbursing them in collaboration with Bapindo
insiders in violation of standard banking practices. The public
prosecutors said that the $448 million in financial losses to the
government were directly attributable to Tansil. They added that
this sum was sufficiently large to charge him under the 1971
anti-corruption law.

Gani's had formerly objected to the case being tried as a
criminal proceeding, saying that charges against his client
amounted to a civil violation. He also argued that since the
crimes Tansil were alleged to have committed at Bapindo's Jakarta
branch office in South Jakarta, the Central Jakarta court had no
authority to try the case.

Soetrisno said yesterday that the trial should proceed to
determine whether or not the case falls under civil or criminal
proceedings. He added that, either way, the court had the
competency and authority to try the case.

There were more catcalls directed at Tansil as he made his
fourth court appearance yesterday, one of which was in reference
to his racial background. Tansil is an Indonesian of Chinese
heritage.

No house arrest

Judge Soetrisno several times had to bang his gavel to call
for order.

The judge also turned down Gani's request that his client be
put under house arrest, saying that Tansil was a flight risk.

Meanwhile, the South Jakarta District Court yesterday held its
second hearing in the trial of Maman Suparman, formerly deputy
manager of Bapindo's Jakarta branch, to hear his lawyers respond
to the charges.

"The South Jakarta District Court should declare that it does
not have the authority to try the case or annul the Public
Prosecutors' dossier," said Denny Kailimang, who is heading the
defense team.

Maman has also been charged the anti-corruption law. His
alleged role was in approving the large loans and helping Tansil
cash in on them, although he did not have the authority to do so.
The prosecution is also accusing him of accepting bribes from
Tansil.

Denny supported his demands by pointing out improprieties in
the way his client was arrested and interrogated. He also said
that the prosecution's dossier was so inconsistent that it
prevented the trial from going forward.

Like Gani's defense statement, Denny did not seek to respond
directly to the charges, but instead tried to destroy the
prosecution's case on technical and procedural grounds.

He pointed out that his client was picked up by the West
Jakarta Public Prosecutors' Office and that the arrest warrant
was subsequently authorized by the West Jakarta Court. Now, the
trial is now being administered by the South Jakarta court.

He also accused the prosecutors of breaking legal procedures,
saying that they altered the dossier between the time they
submitted the document and the time it was read when Maman was
arraigned in court.

Vague

The prosecution is also vague on details about some of the
Bapindo loans which Maman was alleged to have handled, especially
on dates of when these loans were supposed to have been extended,
the lawyer said.

The trial was adjourned to Monday to allow for the public
prosecutors to comment on the defense statement.

Meanwhile in Bandung, hundreds of students staged a
demonstration yesterday urging the government to prosecute three
senior officials for their alleged involvement in the Bapindo
scam.

The protest, held at the parking lot of the Bandung Islamic
University, brought together students from various universities
in the city.

Their chief demand was that Sudomo (chairman of the Supreme
Advisory Council), J.B. Sumarlin (chairman of the Supreme Audit
Agency) and Nasruddin Sumintapura (formerly junior finance
minister) should be tried in the face of increasing allegations
that they had a hand in the Bapindo scandal.

The students marched around the city later and there were
brief skirmishes with police but the march ended in peace later.
(rdm/prs/emb/pet)