Press rapped over Bapindo, again

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Indonesian press received yet more government wrath yesterday for their reporting on the investigation into the loan scandal at Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).

Attorney General Singgih warned that some newspapers and magazines have violated the law by disclosing classified documents that were used for his office's investigation.

Singgih was particularly offended at the way they reprinted in full the texts of written statements given to the government investigators.

"They are all classified documents," he said.

"I don't know how the journalists obtained these documents. They were obviously leaked, but their actions already amount to trial by the press," he told reporters before a cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office.

He said sanctions are possible for the people who leaked the documents as well as for those who helped disseminate them.

Singgih declined to point his finger at anyone but stressed that the papers were not likely to have come from his own staff since they face severe punishment for such actions.

Besides government investigators the only other parties privy to the investigations are the suspects and their lawyers.

The press has been rapped on many occasions over the Bapindo issue, by no less than President Soeharto himself, since the case came to light in January.

The Bapindo scandal has remained front-page news for the past three months not only because of the massive amount of money lost (Rp 1.3 trillion) but also because it has political implications, with a number of top government officials involved.

The trial of Eddy Tansil, the businessman at the center of the scandal, is to open in the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.

The second defendant to appear before the court is Maman Suparman, formerly deputy manager of Bapindo Jakarta, who will be arraigned at the South Jakarta District Court on May 16.

Both men are expected to be charged under the 1971 anti- corruption law, which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.

The Attorney General's office has also detained four former Bapindo directors and is still interrogating them.

Given the importance of the cases, the chiefs of the two courts have announced that they will personally try the cases.

Soedjatman, the chief of the South Jakarta District Court, told reporters yesterday that 30 people would be summoned by the court to testify in the trials against Maman.

The list does not include top government officials Sudomo and Sumarlin, he told reporters.

He did not rule out however the possibility of adding more witnesses, including Sudomo, to testify depending on how the trial unfolds.

Soedjatman said he expected Maman's trial to be completed in less than three months.

Singgih meanwhile said that his office was now investigating four middle management executives of Bapindo following allegations that they received bribery from Tansil to help him disburse loans from the bank and bypass standard procedures.

He said that at present the evidence was not strong enough to warrant their arrest but the investigation was continuing.

He also defended his office's decision not to grant the request by one of the suspects be put under house arrest saying that for practical reasons, they should all remain under the custody of the Attorney General's office.

The lawyers of Sjahrizal, a former Bapindo director who is now under detention, has said that top banker Robby Djohan was willing to provide a guarantee for Sjahrizal's release.

Both Tansil and Maman, who are technically now under the courts' custody, have remained at the detention house of the Attorney General's office also to help with the investigation.

Relatives intending to visit them however have to seek the court's permission. (02)