Maman claims he took his cues from Bapindo top executives
JAKARTA (JP): The former deputy manager of Bapindo's branch in Jakarta testified in court yesterday that he took his cues from the head office in handling the loans for Eddy Tansil, who is being tried for swindling US$448 million from the government bank.
Maman Suparman acknowledged in his own trial at South Jakarta District Court that while he bypassed a number of procedures in allowing Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group, to cash in on his loans, he assumed that he did so with the head office's approval.
Maman admitted that he converted some of the terms of the letters of credit issued to Tansil to allow the latter to personally cash in on the loans.
Maman told the court he took the absence of any reprimand from the head office to mean that his moves had their tacit approval.
He also recalled that the board of directors decided on June 2 to continue meeting their loan commitments to Tansil, which he assumed meant that his actions had been correct.
Maman is being tried in connection with the Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million) loan scandal at Bapindo. Government prosecutors said he colluded with Tansil, owner of the Golden Key Group, to help the latter siphon off some $448 million from the bank.
The prosecution accused Maman of accepting bribes from Tansil and of being responsible for handing over $175 million to Tansil.
Maman expressed his surprise that the head office has continually denied knowledge of his decision to waive standard procedures in the transactions with Tansil since 1989, and that they only found this out in April 1992.
Six people took the witness stand at yesterday's hearing: three Bapindo executives -- Heru Santoso (deputy of general affairs), Husein Sarkawi (deputy head of finance and banking services), Pande Lubis (manager of Bapindo Jakarta), as well as Maj. Gen. (ret.) Kusno Achsan Jein (president of Golden Key Group), Dibyo Putranto (plant manager of Golden Key's PT Materindo Supra Metal Work) and Didik Suwandi (president director of PT Persero Rekayasa Industri).
Lack of collateral
A number of former Bapindo directors testified at Tansil's trial on Tuesday that Maman failed to ensure that Tansil furnish the necessary deposits and related documents as collateral in support of his loan applications. They also said that Maman had overstepped his authority.
Denny Kailimang, Maman's lawyer, yesterday relentlessly questioned Heru Santoso on how the head office could have failed to detect the alleged irregularities in Tansil's transactions for so long.
Denny questioned whether the telex and facsimile messages that the branch office sent to him were passed to the directors.
Heru failed to respond and was spared from further questioning when Presiding Judge Soedjatman ordered Denny not to insist on replies if the witness should refuse to answer.
Pande Lubis, who now manages the Jakarta branch, said that Tansil has not yet paid back a single cent of the loans he obtained from Bapindo.
Dibyo Putranto meanwhile confirmed that PT Materindo Supra Metal Work never built the petrochemical project as suggested in Tansil's loan application. (05)