RI awaits China's report on Tansil

RI awaits China's report on Tansil

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is waiting for China to respond to a
request to verify the whereabouts of Eddy Tansil, an escaped
convict who reportedly owns a brewery in the country.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said he had sent a
letter to the government of the People's Republic of China but
had yet to receive a response.

He was speaking after appointing Adian Silalahi as chief of
the ministry's research and development center, replacing Johan
Syahperi.

Pending an official response from China, Alatas said that his
office was still trying to verify reports that Tansil, the former
chief of the Golden Key business group, owns a brewery in the
Chinese province of Fujian.

Alatas said he sent the letter to China immediately after
reports of the convicts whereabouts first surfaced.

"We will have to send people (to Fujian) and ask for help from
local authorities," Alatas said. "So far China has been
cooperative."

A request for Tansil's extradition would be submitted if the
reports were verified, he said.

The Movement of Concerned Citizens on State Assets (Gempita),
a private corruption watchdog, said on Dec. 28 that Tansil was
currently running a brewery under a licensing agreement with
Germany's Beck's Beer Co. in the city of Putian, in Fujian.

Tansil, 42, was serving the second year of a 17-year sentence
for corruption and violation of banking laws when he escaped from
prison.

He was found guilty of taking more than US$430 million from
the state Bapindo bank for the construction of several chemical
factories under his Golden Key Group in a credit scam run between
1989 and 1990.

Prabowo

At the same function, Alatas also said his office was still
waiting for official confirmation of reports that Jordan had
conferred honorary citizenship on Prabowo Subianto, the former
commander of the Army's Special Force.

The Jordanian Embassy in Jakarta has said that it has no
record of granting Prabowo Jordanian citizenship. Prabowo himself
sent a facsimile message to the Indonesian media saying that
while he had close relations with Jordan's First Family, he had
declined to take up an offer of honorary citizenship from the
kingdom because Indonesia does not recognize dual citizenship.

Prabowo received an honorable discharge from the military
after admitting to an involvement in the abduction of a number of
political activists.

Eleven members of the Army's Special Force are currently being
court-martialled for their involvement in the kidnappings. The
third session of their trial is scheduled for Tuesday. (anr)