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)