Eddy Tansil denies his projeect had gone sour
CILEGON, West Java (JP): Eddy Tansil, the main suspect in the Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million) loan scandal at the government- owned bank Bapindo, denied yesterday that his petrochemical project had gone sour.
The project was one of the Golden Key Group companies which he used to head.
"The PT.Graha Swakarsa Prima (GSP) project could have been completed within the next year if I haven't been arrested," Tansil told a special court hearing.
Tansil was responding to a question from presiding judge Soetrisno on the progress of his project, financed by a loan from Bapindo, during a hearing on the location of his huge petrochemical project in Argawana village, Cilegon, West Java.
Wearing ordinary attire, the panel of judges from Central Jakarta District Court, the government prosecutors and Tansil's defense lawyers held a court hearing in the lobby of the building of a Golden Key affiliate, PT. Hamparan Rejeki.
The improvised court room was packed with nearly 100 journalists and officials who came to see the development of Tansil's projects at the group's huge factory site, which covers an area of 90 hectares.
The court members also visited the site of PT. Graha Swakarsa Prima and made a short tour of Tansil's other projects.
Eddy Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group, is being tried at the Central Jakarta District Court for allegedly siphoning off a total of $448 million from Bapindo between 1989 and 1993.
Tansil is being charged with the 1971 anti-corruption law which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
His trial, which started in early May, is now reaching its closing stages.
Benny Sutedja, a director in the Golden Key Group, testified yesterday that the project of PT. GSP had absorbed nearly 50 percent of the total loans financed by Bapindo.
He added that the calculation of the project should include the US$16 million worth of machinery and equipment ordered by PT GSP from Lucky Engineering of South Korea. The cargo arrived two weeks ago on a ship named Paula. It is still on board the ship at the group's private port at Cilegon, waiting for the court decision regarding its status.
According to the prosecution, three projects within the Golden Key Group received a total US$436 million from Bapindo.
The court also found that the two projects within PT PW are still in the early stages of completion.
Meanwhile, economist Sjahrir, testified that the government should consider the offer of the takeover of Golden Key Group companies, which Tansil's lawyers claim to be worth Rp 1.5 trillion (US$698 million), as compensation for the losses caused by his defaulting on loans from Bapindo.
However, he said Tansil still needs to continue with the trial.
Sjahrir, testifying at the Central Jakarta District Court in favor of Tansil, also repeatedly blamed the scandal on the government, which he thought was the primary agent in the entire affair.
He said the scandal would not have happened without what he called the "top heavy corrupt environment" which had existed for a long time in this country.
"Tansil is just a player in a large orchestra," he said commenting on the scandal.
He also wondered how a finance minister and monetary council could have learned about the scandal only after it became public earlier this year.
"That is a big puzzle to me," he said.
He also appealed to the Finance Minister, the Attorney General's office and the court to recover the group's assets and to find a way to continue the group's projects.
"Otherwise we will get only junk," he said. (05)