Senior official tried for aiding in Tansil's escape
JAKARTA (JP): A senior official at the Cipinang penitentiary went on trial yesterday in the East Jakarta District Court for helping in the escape of businessman Eddy Tansil last May.
Dul, alias Dudung, commandant of the jail's third platoon of guards, was accused of taking a Rp 2 million ($870) bribe.
Government prosecutor Muchtar Kunda said Dudung, 44, and four members of his platoon, facilitated Tansil's escape on May 4.
Tansil, owner of the Golden Key Group of businesses, was serving a 20-year prison sentence for defrauding Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) of $620 million. It was the biggest fraud ever recorded in Indonesian banking history.
He is still at large with many people believing that he has fled the country, possibly to China.
Dudung is the fifth prison employees to stand trial in connection with the escape. The other four suspects -- MH, Mar, Soep, and SM -- are being tried separately in the same court.
MH, Mar, and Soep took Rp 100,000 (US$45) in bribes while SM accepted Rp 1.1 million from Tansil, according to the prosecution.
All five defendants, who are represented by lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, are charged under Article 419 of the Criminal Code which states that any government employee who accepts a gift in the knowledge that it is intended to influence his or her work, is liable to face five years imprisonment. They are also being charged under the 1971 Anti-Corruption Law where the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
According to the indictment, on the night of May 4. Dudung asked his subordinates to allow Tansil to go for a medical check- up. The defendant also took Tansil to Dudung's house, and that was the last time the fugitive was seen.
Presiding judge Soenarto adjourned the hearing until next week.
Earlier, in a separate hearing, lawyers representing MH urged the court to drop the charges against their client, citing violations in the interrogation procedures.
The lawyers said their clients were interrogated by police in the absence of a lawyer.
"According to the Criminal Code Procedures, the dossier from such interrogations should be dropped in the interests of the law," the defense's response to the charges read in court last week said.
The lawyers questioned the use of the anti-corruption law, which prescribes a minimum sentence of five years imprisonment, for their client who is accused of taking Rp 100,000 in bribes. "The use of the law is unfair on the defendant," they said.
They also urged the court to release the defendant.
The hearing was also adjourned to next Wednesday. (26)