Prosecutors want life imprisonment for Eddy Tansil
Prosecutors want life imprisonment for Eddy Tansil
JAKARTA (JP): Government prosecutors yesterday demanded that
the Central Jakarta Court sentence businessman Eddy Tansil to
life imprisonment for masterminding the multi-million dollar scam
at the government-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).
Chief prosecutor Lukman Bachmid during a court hearing urged
the court to order Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group, to
pay Bapindo Rp 800 billion ($380 million) to compensate for the
huge losses he caused the bank, and pay a Rp 30 million fine.
The government has built its case based on the anti-corruption
law, saying that the huge losses -- one estimate puts at Rp 1.3
trillion while another suggests Rp 1.8 trillion -- was
sufficiently large to make the charge stick.
The prosecution puts Bapindo's total losses in its dealings
with Tansil's loans at $448 million.
Lukman said yesterday that the loan scandal has dented the
government's economic development program and said Tansil has
tarnished the credibility of state banks, particularly Bapindo.
"The defendant's behavior has tarnished the good name of a
number of state officials. He involved top executives of the bank
in the attempt to swindle and undermine state finances," he said.
The state officials he seemed to be referring to were Sudomo
and Nasrudin Sumintapura (chairman and member of the Supreme
Advisory Council), and J.B. Sumarlin (chairman of the Supreme
Audit Agency), who have been implicated in the scandal.
The prosecution also appeared to be looking to recover as much
of the huge losses as possible from Tansil, although he is not
the only defendant in the case. One Bapindo executive has already
been convicted to nine years in jail. Another is on trial while
four others await prosecution.
Lukman listed numerous properties and assets belonging to
Tansil which the government wants to confiscate. They include
three hundred plots of land, 90 houses, five offices, two
manufacturing plants, 38 vehicles and eight motorcycles, all
scattered throughout Jakarta, Bekasi, Tangerang and Serang.
The government also wants the Rp 5 billion Tansil stashed in
various bank accounts in Indonesia under his name.
Closing arguments
Tansil, dressed in a gray batik shirt and black pants,
appeared at the six-hour hearing, during which Lukman and his
deputies took turns reading their closing arguments.
According to the prosecution, Tansil, individually and in
collaboration with others, "sought to enrich himself."
Tansil obtained a series of loans from Bapindo amounting to
$436 million between 1989 and 1993, supposedly to finance a huge
petrochemical project in Cilegon, West Java. However, he obtained
the loans bypassing standard scrutiny and was even able to
transfer the funds for other purposes.
According to the prosecution, he managed to cash in on the
loans himself although the money was supposed to be used for
payments for equipment he had ordered from South Korean and
Chinese suppliers.
This he managed by converting Bapindo letters of credit from
usance to red clause letters with the help of bank insiders.
The prosecution accused Tansil of siphoning off the Bapindo
funds to pay off previous credits with the bank and other banks,
financing other industrial projects belonging to the Golden Key
Group, buying properties including an island, opening up new
deposits accounts and giving gifts to his relatives.
Presiding at the trial is Judge Soetrisno, the chief of the
Central Jakarta District court.
The small courtroom was packed with journalists, TV crews,
observers and police.
The trial was adjourned to next Thursday, when Tansil and his
lawyers will present their closing statements. The 40-year-old
businessman, who also goes by the names Tan Tju Fuan and Tan Tjoe
Hong, is being represented in the trial by Gani Djemat and
Partners, a powerful corporate law firm.
Gani and four other lawyers from his company represented
Tansil at the session. (prs)