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)