Eddy Tansil makes last ditch attempt at peace

Eddy Tansil makes last ditch attempt at peace

JAKARTA (JP): Businessman Eddy Tansil, with an imminent
corruption indictment hanging over him, made a last ditch effort
to settle his debts with the government by offering all the
assets of his business empire.

Gani Djemat, the prominent lawyer hired to defend Tansil,
yesterday during a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court,
gave the breakdown of the value of the assets belonging to the
Golden Key Group which is owned by the businessman.

Gani insisted that the government stands to recover Rp 1.5
trillion from the assets, which is more than the Rp 1.3 trillion
the government has reportedly lost through Tansil's dealings with
the state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).

Government prosecutors had earlier rejected Tansil's peace
offer, saying that the lawyers had inflated the value of some of
the industrial ventures that were on offer.

Tansil is being charged for corruption for swindling Bapindo
of more than $448 million in his loan dealings.

Gani said at the hearing yesterday that his client was
prepared to hand over eight industrial ventures, with a combined
book value of Rp 1.231 trillion.

One venture is the PT Hamparan Rejeki, alone worth Rp 534
billion, he said, stressing that the value came from an
independent evaluation from an appraisal company and a registered
public accountant.

"If non material assets such as goodwill and others were also
included in the calculation, the total assets could reach an
estimated Rp 1.5 trillion," he said.

The same evaluators also found that the total debts of the
companies to Bapindo and another three government banks, Bank
Dagang Negara (BDN), Bank Bumi Daya (BBD) and Bank BNI totaled Rp
1.214 trillion, he said.

The evaluation covered all of the companies' assets including
land and buildings, inventory, machinery and equipment, and other
property.

"The appraisal company employed by the prosecutors simply
looked at the land and buildings," he said, pointing out that the
value of the land was assessed at Rp 65,000 per square meter, far
below the going market price of Rp 250,000.

Life imprisonment

Responding to the gesture, chief prosecutor Lukman Bachmid
again said that he highly doubted the figures presented by
Tansil's lawyers.

The hearing was adjourned till next Monday when the court is
scheduled to read its verdict.

Lukman is pressing for life imprisonment and has asked the
court to order Tansil to pay Rp 800 billion to the government and
another Rp 30 million penalty.

Maman Suparman, the former deputy manager of Bapindo's Jakarta
branch who dealt with Tansil, was sentenced to nine years in jail
by the South Jakarta District Court for his part in allowing
Tansil to swindle the bank.

Two former Bapindo directors, Subekti Ismaun and Towil
Heryoto, are now being tried at the South Jakarta District Court
for their role in the scam. Two other former directors, Bambang
Kuntjoro and Sjahrizal, are waiting for arraignment.

Gani in his defense statement, again urged the judges to throw
away the case saying that if anything, Tansil should have been
tried for civil wrong and not for crime. He pointed out that
Bapindo is also suing his client through the Hong Kong High
Court.

One of Tansil's companies, the Golden Step Development of Hong
Kong, was the recipient of funds from Bapindo's Hong Kong branch.

Meanwhile, lawyers representing Subekti yesterday urged the
South Jakarta District Court to dismiss the trial on technical
and procedural grounds.

Amir Syamsuddin, heading Subekti's defense team, said the
prosecution's case was too vague and pointed out what he
perceived to be weaknesses in the dossiers, including vague
wordings and the use of incorrect banking and finance terms.

The lawyer said the prosecution's case is not relevant since
it accuses the defendant of corruption crimes for managerial
mistakes performed by Subekti as president of the bank. (05)