Former director of Bapindo charged in court for corruption
JAKARTA (JP): Towil Heryoto, a former director of the government-owned Bank Bapindo, was arraigned at the South Jakarta District Court yesterday on charges of corruption.
Government prosecutors told the court that Towil had improperly used his position to help businessman Eddy Tansil cash huge credits from Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) in violation of standard banking procedures.
Towil, 55, in cooperation with Tansil, illegally enriched Tansil and the Golden Key Group to the tune of some US$443.8 million, the prosecution said.
Tansil, who owns the Golden Key Group and to whom the loans were extended between 1989 and 1993, is now being tried by the Central Jakarta district court. His trial has reached its closing stages.
Towil's action inflicted losses of the above-mentioned amount to the state and badly affected the country's economy, said Taslim Hasyim, the presiding prosecutor while reading the indictment.
The defendant was charged under the 1971 anti-corruption law, a violation of which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Towil is the first of four former Bapindo directors to stand trial in connection with the loan scam. The other three, who are awaiting arraignment, are Subekti Ismaun, Sjahrizal and Bambang Kuntjoro.
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes A. Sutomo has said that Subekti's dossier will be submitted to the same court sometime this week, while those of the other two will likely be handed over to the Central Jakarta District Court in the near future.
Letters of credit
Meanwhile, Maman Suparman, a former deputy manager of Bapindo's Jakarta branch who is being tried by the South Jakarta District Court, will hear his verdict next week.
The prosecution claimed that Towil, who was the bank's director in charge of supervising the bank credits extended for plastic, chemical and rubber projects, approved opening several letters of credit between 1989 and 1992 to benefit companies under the Golden Key Group.
The credits were issued to finance the purchases of machinery and equipment for an integrated petrochemical project, but Towil along with other directors failed to follow proper banking procedures in connection with the loan approval.
Towil approved the huge loans without conducting a thorough feasibility study on several important aspects normally required for such loans, the prosecution maintained.
The prosecutors also accused Towil of helping Tansil further swindle the loans from Bapindo.
According to the prosecution, although he and other directors had discovered irregularities in Tansil's loan application, Towil still decided to allow the businessman to cash in on the remaining loans.
The directors have testified in court that the loans were extended to Tansil on the order of J.B. Sumarlin, then the finance minister.
Bribery
Meanwhile, at Central Jakarta District Court yesterday, Tansil denied that he had either bribed or promised to give a "token of gratitude" to Bapindo's directors in order to secure the loans.
"I know them as directors who do their jobs professionally," he told the court.
Tansil said that he only gave Bapindo officials Apip Sahabuddin and Riswanto Hadi Rp 100 million and Rp 175 million, respectively.
Tansil admitted that he used Bapindo's money to finance other projects within the group that were not mentioned in the loan applications.
He said he did so in order to use "idle money" he received through changing the letters of credit from usance to red clause letters, and changing the beneficiaries from Chinese and South Korean suppliers to Golden Key affiliate Golden Step development of Hong Kong.
"While waiting for the machinery and equipment to arrive, I used the money to finance other projects in the group which faced shortages of funds," he said. (05)