Supreme Court upholds Bapindo case verdicts

Supreme Court upholds Bapindo case verdicts

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court is upholding all verdicts
passed by lower courts against a businessman and four bankers for
the massive loan scandal that nearly brought state-owned Bank
Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) to its knees.

Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto who presided over the hearings on
the five cases told reporters on Friday that the Supreme Court is
convinced that the five men are guilty and that the punishment
meted out by a district court, and later reaffirmed by the
Jakarta High Court, were appropriate.

"We have ruled to reject the appeals filed by the defendants,"
Adi told reporters at his office.

The businessman at the center of the Bapindo loan scandal is
Eddy Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group. Tansil was found
guilty by the district court of siphoning off over Rp 1.3
trillion ($620 million) in loans from the state bank between 1989
and 1994.

He was eventually sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and
ordered to pay the government Rp 500 billion in restitution. A
fine of Rp 30 million was also imposed.

The four directors of the bank convicted of complicity in the
scam also saw their prison sentences confirmed by the Supreme
Court. Towil Heryoto received eight years imprisonment, Subekti
Ismaun and Sjahrizal each got six years, and Bambang Kuntjoro
received four years.

Subekti and Towil were presidents of the bank when the loans
were made.

Tansil's main defense, that he had not yet defaulted on the
loans because they were not due for repayment when he was
arrested in February 1994, had been dismissed at the district
court level.

The main defense premise of the four bankers, that Tansil came
with a letter of recommendation from Navy Admiral (ret.) Sudomo,
at the time a powerful figure in the cabinet as coordinating
minister for political affairs and security, also was considered
invalid.

The Supreme Court last month also upheld the lower courts'
verdicts against Maman Suparman, a junior executive of Bapindo's
Jakarta branch. Maman, the man who extended the loans to Tansil,
was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. (imn)