Sudomo testifies against Tansil in Bapindo trial

JAKARTA (JP): Former powerful minister Sudomo made a surprise court appearance yesterday to testify in the ongoing trial of the huge corruption case at the government-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).

Sudomo, currently the chairman of the Supreme Advisory Board, has been repeatedly mentioned in earlier testimony as the person who wrote a reference letter to support Eddy Tansil, the chief defendant, in applying for loans from Bapindo.

During a hearing with the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday, Sudomo admitted writing the letter while he was coordinating minister of political affairs and security but stressed that in no way had he tried to pressure Bapindo into granting the loans without looking into his creditworthiness.

"I'd be mad if I had written the letters for that purpose," he said, stressing that he had expected the bank's executives to carry out routine procedures before approving the loans.

There had been question marks surrounding Sudomo's court appearance because of the political implications it would entail. The former minister had previously given a deposition to the Attorney General's office regarding his role in the loan scandal.

Sudomo yesterday was testifying in the trial of Tansil who has been accused of defrauding $448 million through collusion with Bapindo insiders.

A number of former Bapindo directors who are co-suspects in the case have testified that Sudomo's reference letters influenced their decision to grant the loans to Tansil. They also said the former minister several times gave his guarantee that Tansil would make good on his loans.

Sudomo admitted that the letter of reference, written on his official stationery, suggested that Tansil was a bona fide businessman, loyal, trustworthy and had no criminal record.

When pressed by Tansil's lawyers, he admitted that the letter might have influenced the Bapindo directors in approving the loans, but he insisted that "the bank should have checked into the background of the applicant."

Sudomo said he never thought that Tansil would have "abused" the letter of reference.

Meanwhile, in a separate trial, government prosecutors yesterday demanded that the court sentence Maman Suparman, formerly deputy manager of Bapindo's Jakarta branch, to 13 years imprisonment for his role in the scam.

Chief prosecutor Mohamad Yamin said Maman was directly responsible for disbursing some $175 million of Tansil's loans in contravention of standard banking practices.

According to the prosecutors, Maman received bribes from Eddy Tansil totaling Rp 201 million ($93,000) in August 1991.

Yamin pointed to a Rp 415 million house in the exclusive residential area of Pulo Mas, East Jakarta, he purchased a year later, supposedly with the money from Tansil.

He said the defendant had clarified the sources of Rp 109 million of the money he used to purchase the house and that the rest had come from Tansil.

The prosecution claimed Maman collected a total of Rp 306 million ($143,000) over the years from clients whose credit he helped approve.

The prosecutors also demanded the court order Maman to pay Rp 336 million to the state as compensation for the funds the government lost from the Bapindo scam. They also want the government to confiscate the Pulo Mas house and Rp 10 million in a bank account in his name.

Denny Kailimang, Maman's lawyer, told reporters after the hearing that he viewed the prosecution's case as weak in legal terms and that the demand was based more on political considerations.

"I hope the court will decide the verdict based on judicial considerations," he said, adding that the court has limited the rights of the defendant from the very beginning.

The panel of judges rejected Denny's request to have the trial adjourned for 30 days to prepare his closing defense arguments. He was instead given one week.

Twenty nine witnesses have already testified at the trial. (05)