Eddy Tansil's Assets and the 30-Year Trail of an Unresolved Case

The name Eddy Tansil has resurfaced after the Attorney General’s Office handed over Non-Tax State Revenue totalling IDR 1.029 trillion to Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa. Included in this amount are assets belonging to corruption convict Eddy Tansil valued at IDR 51.6 billion. “On this occasion, we can also report that the Asset Tracing Centre has successfully traced assets in the name of convict Eddy Tansil in the form of cash amounting to IDR 51,682,537,000,” said Kuntadi, Head of the Asset Recovery Agency at the Attorney General’s Office, during a speech at the agency’s office in Jakarta on Monday morning.

In his career, Eddy Tansil became a corruptor who embarrassed Indonesia under the global spotlight on the Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism of the New Order regime. For 30 years, Eddy Tansil has ‘disappeared’ without any legal accountability for the case that ensnared him. In 1991, leveraging his closeness with the then Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Sudomo, and Finance Minister JB Sumarlin, Eddy Tansil obtained credit from Bank Pembangunan Indonesia through PT Golden Key Group. In partnership with Tommy Soeharto, Tansil used the credit to build a petrochemical plant called PT Hamparan Rejeki, a subsidiary of PT GKG. However, the company was merely a sham. The state loan money went into his personal pocket.

The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Eddy Tansil to 20 years in prison, a fine of IDR 30 million, and a restitution payment of IDR 500 billion for embezzling USD 430 million, approximately IDR 1.3 trillion at the exchange rate of the time, a year later. Monday, 6 May 1996, around 5 p.m. Western Indonesian Time, became a day well remembered by the Indonesian government and its citizens. The news that Eddy Tansil had successfully escaped instantly threw the country into turmoil. He was suspected of fleeing to Singapore, then China. Eddy Tansil was said to have meticulously prepared his escape plan. He used a visit for heart treatment at Harapan Kita Hospital in Jakarta on 4 May 1996 as an alibi to smooth his escape. According to regulations, Eddy Tansil, who was a detainee, should have been escorted by police officers and prison guards during treatment. However, that did not happen. When he escaped, Eddy Tansil allegedly gave ‘cigarette money’ to the guard commander so he would not receive an escort. To aid his escape, Eddy Tansil was known to have prepared a Suzuki Carry vehicle. The success of his plan was also suspected to be due to cooperation with the gate guards at Cipinang Penitentiary who did not inspect the vehicle. At least ten people were legally processed by the East Jakarta Police over the escape of the high-profile fugitive.

The Indonesian government, upon learning of the incident, was furious and formed a team via a Presidential Instruction from Soeharto. The manhunt was expanded internationally by engaging Kroll Associates, a New York-based company focused on handling fraud crimes. Despite this, all efforts to track him down have failed completely to this day. Citing an investigation by Tirto, a private detective contacted by Kroll Associates leader Steve Vickers, James Filgo, said Eddy Tansil was very likely to have fled to Singapore via Batam. Eddy Tansil was suspected of being picked up by a motorboat on the north coast of Jakarta which took him to Batam. His family was reported to have already been in Singapore several days earlier. Information about Eddy Tansil’s whereabouts went quiet for many years and resurfaced in 2013 when Attorney General Basrief Arief stated the fugitive had been traced to China. Still citing Tirto’s findings, Eddy Tansil was confirmed to be in China and living a normal life, contradicting the narrative at the time that he was living in hiding, falsifying his identity and changing his name as is typical for a fugitive. Information about Eddy Tansil or Chen Zihuang (his Chinese name) was widely found on search engines, particularly Baidu, Shenma, and Sogou, which are local products.

While in China, Eddy Tansil reportedly repeated his actions. Using the same scheme, this time he deceived Bank of China Limited. Eddy Tansil was reported to have used his connections with high-ranking Chinese officials to borrow 389.92 million renminbi in 2002. He collateralised land assets and two of his factories, the Golden Spoon Brewery and Golden Spoon Glass factory in Putian, a city east of Fujian where his ancestors originated. The Makassar-born corruptor did not pay his credit obligations, so Bank of China dragged him into civil proceedings. The court ruled in favour of the bank, seized the assets, and ordered an immediate auction process in a decision in July 2003. However, Eddy Tansil appealed and requested time to resolve the debt problem. By utilising all manner of ‘clever’ methods, Eddy Tansil reneged on his promise to pay 2-6 million renminbi and hand over 325 hectares of land assets (valued at 30 million renminbi if liquidated) between 31 October 2003 and 31 December 2004. The dispute dragged on until Bank of China transferred Eddy Tansil’s case to Great Wall Asset Management Co., Ltd., a state financial institution handling problematic assets from non-performing loans of state-owned commercial banks in China. However, after more than four years of dispute, Eddy Tansil finally gave in. His brewery was acquired by Fujian Xuejin Beer Co., Ltd., and his glass factory was taken over by Great Wall and renamed Fujian Great Wall Huacing Glass Co., Ltd.