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)