Eddy Tansil 'living in China'

JAKARTA (JP): In a major corruption related development an independent corruption watch dog announced on Monday it has discovered escaped convict Eddy Tansil prospering in China after fleeing a 17-year prison sentence in 1996.

The Movement of Concerned Citizens on State Assets (Gempita) said Tansil was currently running a premium brewery under a licensing agreement with Germany's Beck's Beer Co. in the city of Putian, in Fujian province.

"The government, in this case the justice ministry, the Attorney General's Office and the foreign ministry should immediately contact the Chinese authorities and the authorities in Fujian," Gempita said in a press release.

The group alleged that Tansil, who has not changed his name since his escape and is known in China as "Mr. ET", wholly owns the Putian Golden Key Brewery with an estimated investment of at least US$ 10 million.

Tansil, 42, was serving the second year of a 17-year sentence for corruption and violation of bank laws when he escaped.

He was found guilty of taking more than US$ 430 million in a credit scam from the state Bapindo bank between 1989 and 1991 for the construction of several chemical factories under his Golden Key Group.

Gempita also accused Beck's of lacking in business ethics because it dealt with a wanted criminal.

"This finding clearly shows that the multinational firm, Beck's Beer Co. was unabashed in its flouting of ethics in order to reap profits," even after widespread coverage of Tansil's scam, the watch dog added in its media release.

Tansil had worked together with the German firm prior to his arrest.

Earlier in the day, Minister of Justice Muladi said a team of experts from the ministry would travel to Hong Kong and China to discuss extradition treaties with the two countries.

"We are going to sign an extradition treaty with Hong Kong in February," Muladi told an end of the year media conference at his office in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

He called on Singapore to sign the treaty so Indonesia can bring back "economic criminals" believed to have been taking refuge in the island state.

The call for such a treaty was first aired last week by Minister of Cooperatives Adi Sasono.

"I believe there are many economic criminals who have been seeking refuge in Singapore but it is difficult for us to probe since we do not have any extradition or mutual (legal) assistance treaty with Singapore," Muladi said.

Muladi did not mention any names but defined economic criminals as Indonesians who committed money laundering activities in Singapore or were involved in cases of bank scams.

Muladi added he would meet with the Singapore Ambassador to Indonesia within a day or two to discuss the matter.

"I will try to convince Singapore that we are not going to interfere in their internal affairs but we only want to pursue those who have inflicted financial losses upon Indonesia," Muladi said.

Indonesia has signed extradition treaties with Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

One of the public demands leveled at President B.J. Habibie's administration has been investigation into former president Soeharto, who is widely accused of enriching his family and friends during 32 years in power.

Also on Monday, State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Hasan Basri Durin announced that Soeharto and his family control a total of 204,983 hectares of land with both land ownership certificates and land utilization status.

Soeharto, for instance, controls 19 plots of land in Jakarta and Central Java totaling 116,284 hectares. His late wife, Siti Hartinah Soeharto, owned 13 plots of land in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, West Java and Central Java.

Eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana controls 17 plots of land in Jakarta and Central Java. Together with her husband Indra Rukmana, she has another plot of land in North Sumatra.

Eldest son Sigit Hardjojudanto owns 19 plots of land scattered throughout the country, second son Bambang has one plot of land in Bali, second daughter Siti Hediati Hariyadi owns 13 plots of land also in various provinces, and youngest daughter Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih owns 10 plots of land in Jakarta and West Java.

Youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra owns 19 plots of land, whose total amount was three times bigger than the property controlled by Soeharto, according to Durin as quoted by Antara. (byg/swe)