Court sentences jail warden to two years

JAKARTA (JP): A court here sentenced yesterday a prison guard for two years and six months for accepting a bribe from Eddy Tansil, a businessman who escaped from the prison while serving a 20-year jail term.

The panel of judges of the East Jakarta District Court said Dulhadi, alias Dudung, 44, had been proven guilty of taking a Rp 2 million bribe from Eddy Tansil to help him escape from Cipinang Prison in May last year.

Tansil, owner of the Golden Key Group, was serving a jail term for swindling Rp 3 trillion (US$620 million). for swindling Rp 1.3 trillion from the state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).

Dudung, commandant of the third group of prison guards responsible for Tansil, received the money while escorting the inmate out of the prison for a medical checkup; Tansil escaped during the drive.

According to earlier testimony, Tansil asked Dudung to get him out of the jail on May 4, two days before the appointment for his heart condition at a local hospital.

Dudung agreed to the request and drove Tansil to several locations before releasing him. Eight other prison officers were also involved in the scandal.

Previous sessions also said Dudung admitted he received the money in two separate envelopes, each containing Rp 1 million.

It was also said Dudung distributed Rp 1 million to his subordinates, and passed the other Rp 1 million to Tomy Arifin Hutapea, commandant of the first group of guards also responsible for him. Hutapea denied Dudung's claim.

According to Dudung, he only kept Rp 200,000 for himself. One of Dudung's subordinates has been sentenced to two years imprisonment while three others were sentenced to eight months jail.

Tansil's case was Indonesia's biggest bank fraud. It involved four Bapindo directors and a deputy branch manager.

The Central Jakarta District Court jailed Tansil to 17 years in jail but when he appealed to the High Court the sentenced was increased to 20 years. The Supreme Court confirmed the sentence.

It is believed Tansil has fled the country.

In a recent defense statement, Dudung's lawyers said he was a victim of a bad prison system which lacked of discipline, control and treated prisoners indiscriminately while prison guards were poorly paid.

The lawyers also said that Dudung was part of a defective system, so it was unjust for him alone to be blamed for the escape.

Both the convict and prosecutors accepted the verdict. (05)