Executive gets six years in jail for embezzlement

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court on Monday sentenced the former chief executive of a now closed industrial gas company to six years in jail for embezzling Rp 3 billion (US$340,900) from a loan given to the company.

Soebiyanto Arifin, former president and owner of PT Pan Gas Nusantara Industri in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, was found guilty of misusing funds which were part of a Rp 28 billion loan package secured in 1990 from state Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) intended to be spent on expanding the business.

Besides the prison sentence, Judge Dalil Ahmad also fined the businessman Rp 4 million and ordered him to repay the Rp 3 billion to the bank.

"The defendant caused losses to the state amounting to Rp 3 billion. He used this money for his own interests," Dalil told the court.

The punishment was only half the 12 year prison term demanded by the prosecutors.

The defendant has not yet been detained. According to the judge, Soebiyanto would be given one week to accept the verdict and would be jailed "shortly".

The judge's decision was questioned by dozens of Soebiyanto's former workers, who reported the defendant's malfeasance to the Attorney General's Office last year.

"How come the defendant has not been detained even though he has already been found guilty," chairman of the company's employee union Nicolas S. Lamardan said.

About one-quarter of the gas company's total work force of about 200 people packed the courtroom on Monday.

Secretary-general of the All Indonesian Worker Union for Reform (FSPSI-Reformasi), Mohammad Rodja, who also attended the trial, expressed concerns that the judge's decision not to immediately detain Soebiyanto would enrage the workers.

"It would be safer for the defendant in jail. Otherwise, the workers will hunt him," Rodja said.

Judge Dalil argued that he did not order the defendant to go directly to jail because Soebiyanto had not been detained by the prosecutors since the beginning of the trial.

According to Muhammad Yuntri, a lawyer for the workers, the corruption was revealed by the workers when Soebiyanto suddenly closed the factory last year and dismissed all employees -- most of whom had worked there for more than 20 years -- without any severance payment.

"Actually, we reported six suspects, including the defendant's brother and a bank official. We don't know why only Soebiyanto was tried," Yuntri said.

He said his clients have also filed a suit against Soebiyanto at the East Jakarta District Court asking for Rp 21 billion compensation for neglecting the workers.

According to Yuntri, Soebiyanto sold some of the company's shares to a French company, Pan Air Liquid, in 1992.

He said that, along with his partner, Soebiyanto used the Rp 25 billion (from the total Rp 28 billion loan he actually received) to set up another gas company in Cilegon, West Java.

When Soebiyanto defaulted on the loan, BRI seized his Pulogadung factory, which produced industrial gas, such as argon and nitrogen, Yuntri explained.

The bank then auctioned the factory for Rp 10 billion to another company, which also belonged to the defendant, he said.

"It's a scam. The bank officials should also be held accountable in the corruption case," he said.

Soebiyanto's lawyer, who requested anonymity, denied Yuntri's accusations, saying his client no longer owned the factory in Pulogadung.

"He's just an employee at a gas company at Cilegon," he said. (jun)