Ex-Bapindo boss faces 14 years imprisonment
Ex-Bapindo boss faces 14 years imprisonment
JAKARTA (JP): The state prosecutor asked the South Jakarta
District Court yesterday to sentence Towil Heryoto, a former
director of state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo), to
14 years in prison.
"We demand that the presiding judge sentence Towil Heryoto to
14 years' imprisonment for continuously allowing irregularities
to occur at Bapindo," Chief Prosecutor Taslim Hasyim said.
"We also appeal to the judges to order Towil to pay a fine of
Rp 30 million ($13,729.9), or sentence him to an additional six
months in prison," he added.
The prosecutors also asked the court to seize material
evidence, including several of Towil's bank accounts, documents
of share ownership worth Rp 209 million ($95,652.2), a house in
Bogor, West Java, and a 2,150-hectare plot of land in Pati, East
Java.
The prosecutors did not ask the court to order Towil to repay
the state assets he was responsible for losing in restitution.
"We cannot determine the sum of the state losses he has
caused," Taslim said.
He said in his indictment that Towil neglected banking
principles on orderliness, allowing Maman Suparman, former deputy
manager of Bapindo Jakarta, to convert the letter of credit (L/C)
from Usance into Red Clause without the directors' approval. This
is against the law.
Maman has already been sentenced to nine years imprisonment by
the same court.
Neglected
Taslim said that Towil also neglected the principle of
carefulness in approving the request of businessman Eddy Tansil,
the owner of the Golden Key Group, to open the Usance L/C
facilities, which were used to finance the group's petrochemical
projects. He approved the facility without any prior sales
contract, credit agreement, or clear deposit, Taslim said.
Tansil was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment by the Central
Jakarta District Court last August in connection with the Rp 1.3
trillion (US$620 million) scam. He had cashed in on his Bapindo
loans without ever signing a single contract for them. He was
also ordered to pay Rp 500 million ($228 million) in restitution
and a fine of Rp 30 million.
Taslim said that on June 16, 1992, Towil and four of the
bank's other directors collectively approved granting new
banker's acceptances (B/A) to the group up to the credit ceiling
of $476.6 million. At a previous meeting on May 28, the bank's
director had decided that the preliminary issuance of B/A up to
$208.1 million was a violation of the bank's regulation. Bapindo
had already lost Rp 962.4 billion ($ 448.8 million) by August
1994 after the bank's failure to pay Tansil's business group's
overdue debt.
Three other former Bapindo directors, Subekti Ismaun,
Sjahrizal and Bambang Kuntjoro, are currently being tried on
similar corruption charges.
Adi Sugondho, another director, has not been charged
apparently because he was not as extensively involved as the
other four. (imn)