Executive gets six years in jail for embezzlement

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)