Prison guard rejects charge in Tansil case

Prison guard rejects charge in Tansil case

JAKARTA (JP): A staff member of the Cipinang penitentiary
rejected yesterday the accusation that he took part in a plot to
let businessman Eddy Tansil escape last May in return for money.

"I was simply following an order from my superior," the
defendant, MH, told the East Jakarta District Court during cross-
examination yesterday. "I knew nothing about a plot."

The defendant, a guard, escorted Tansil out of his cell and
the penitentiary and into a waiting car on the night of May 4.

Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group who was convicted of
swindling the state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo)
out of Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million), is still at large and is
believed to have fled the country. He was in his second year of a
20-year prison term.

Five guards of the penitentiary are now separately standing
trial at the East Jakarta District Court for aiding the escape.
One of them is DH, the commandant of the unit responsible for
Tansil's cell at the time of the escape.

When asked by the judge, the defendant said the order from his
superior did not state the reason why Tansil was leaving the
penitentiary.

He said there was no written order, which the prosecution
insisted was a standing order for the release of any prisoner.

"It is common in the penitentiary to receive orders from
superiors by telephone," he said.

Tansil had permission to leave the penitentiary for a checkup,
but it was for May 6, two days before he escaped, according to
the prosecutors.

"No one told me Tansil was going for a medical checkup," the
defendant said.

The defendant admitted receiving Rp 100,000 (US$45) from his
commandant DH, but stressed he had no knowledge that it was
linked to Tansil's escape.

"I gladly took it because I thought it was a windfall," he
said, adding that prison guards receive tips from inmates now and
then.

The defendants and four others are charged under Article 419
of the Criminal Code pertaining to government workers taking
gifts in the knowledge that such gifts are intended to influence
him or her. If found guilty the maximum penalty is five years
imprisonment.

The defendants are also charged under the 1971 Anticorruption
Law, of which a guilty verdict carries a maximum penalty of 20
years imprisonment and a Rp 30 million fine.

The hearing, presided by judge Achmad Makmum, was adjourned
until next week. (16)