State banks entrusted to sell Tansil's firms

JAKARTA (JP): Two state banks, Bank Dagang Negara (BDN) and Bank Bumi Daya (BBD), have been entrusted with the management of three companies belonging to convicted businessman Eddy Tansil and have the option to sell them.

A lawyer representing Tansil said yesterday that his client was released from jail for a day last week to attend a shareholders meeting of the Golden Key Group, which he formerly owned.

During the meeting, Tansil agreed to hand over management of the three companies held by the group as part of his efforts to repay the nearly Rp 1 trillion he owed to Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo), F.X.L. Soewadi of the Gani Djemat law firm, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Soewadi was clarifying a statement made by his client while testifying at the trial of one of Bapindo's former directors.

Tansil then explained that he had transferred ownership of the three companies to BDN and BBD which, in turn, would sell the them and hand over the proceeds to Bapindo.

The Attorney General's office yesterday denied that such an agreement existed and that the two state banks have only been given management rights over the three companies.

The three firms are the most prized industrial ventures of the Golden Key Group. Two of them, PT Hamparan Rejeki, an acrylic fiber plant, and PT Glasifibindo Indah, a fiberglass plant, will be managed by BDN. PT Sukma Beta Sempurna, a printed circuit board plant, will be managed by BBD.

Tansil was convicted in August of swindling Rp 962 billion ($448 million) from Bapindo between 1989 and 1993. The funds, originally intended to finance his ambitious plan to build a huge petrochemical project in Cilegon, West Java, ended mostly in his pockets in various bank accounts at home and abroad.

Offer

Tansil had earlier tried to settle his debt by offering eight of the Golden Key Group's industrial ventures which his lawyers said are worth Rp 1.5 billion, more than enough to clear his debt.

The government prosecutors rejected the offer however, saying that they doubted that the proceeds from the sale of the plants would raise that much money.

Tansil was later sentenced to 17 years in jail and ordered to pay Rp 500 billion ($238 million) in restitution.

Attorney General spokesman Basrief said the decision to transfer the management of the three ventures was made at the annual and extraordinary shareholders meeting of Golden Key Group on Sept. 15.

He said the Jakarta High Prosecutor's Office allowed Tansil to attend the meeting, which also discussed the future of the Golden Key Group of businesses. (02)