Former director of Bapindo charged in court for corruption
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)