Tansil denies misusing Bapindo funds
JAKARTA (JP): Businessman Eddy Tansil yesterday denied that he had misused the funds loaned to him by Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) and that he was the cause for the bank losing Rp 1.3 trillion $448 million.
Tansil disclosed publicly for the first time, during a court hearing, details of how he had used the Rp 927 billion ($436 million) loan from Bapindo to prove his point that he had been managing the funds properly until he was arrested in February.
Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group, is being charged under the anti-corruption law for swindling money from Bapindo. The government prosecutors have alleged that Tansil siphoned the funds for his private needs and also to finance projects other than those agreed to in the loans.
At the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday, Tansil confirmed that he transferred some of the funds to finance other projects but denied the suggestion that some had been used for his private needs.
He said he invested Rp 423 billion in several companies within the Golden Key Group, Rp 246 billion in two companies as mentioned in the loan applications, and another Rp 150 billion in properties and plots of land used by the group.
The other Rp 110 billion was used to pay the interest on the loans. "None were allocated for personal expenses," he said.
The Bapindo loans were intended to finance two units of a huge integrated petrochemical project but some of the funds, according to Tansil, were used to finance other units in the meantime.
He insisted that all the projects within the group would have succeeded if he was not arrested. "And I am sure I could pay back the money I owe, since the credits were not due until the year 2000," he said.
He pointed out that up to the time he was arrested, he never received any formal warning from Bapindo regarding the loans.
Tansil was cross-examined by his lawyers, the prosecutors and the judges. The hearing was adjourned until Thursday next week when the prosecutors are scheduled to read their closing arguments.
Tansil explained yesterday that Bapindo's directors were aware and approved of his actions to use what he called "idle money".
This was proven when they allowed him to convert letters of credit, intended for payments for equipment purchased from South Korean and Chinese suppliers, from usance to red letters and therefore allowing him to use the money for other purposes until the equipment arrived. The bank also changed the beneficiary of the letters of credit to Golden Step Development, which is an affiliate of the Golden Key Group.
Tansil said he did not see any wrongdoing had been committed since the funds were used to finance the other units of the petrochemical project.
The bank's directors were not only aware of his actions, they even decided, as late as November 1993, to sign an agreement to furnish him with more loans, Tansil said.
Responding to why the properties and plots of land he bought with the bank's money were registered with his or his wife's name, Tansil said that he did that for administrative reasons.
"It would be more difficult to obtain official documents for them if they were registered under the companies' names," he said.
Tansil is one of three men now being tried in connection with the Bapindo loan scandal.
Maman Suparman, formerly deputy manager of the bank's Jakarta branch, faces sentencing at the South Jakarta District Court next Thursday for his alleged role in facilitating Tansil to gain access to huge funds.
Towil Heryoto, a former Bapindo director, began his trial in the same court on Monday.
Three other former Bapindo directors are under investigation at the Attorney General's office and their dossiers are expected to be turned into the court soon. They are Subekti Ismaun, Sjahrizal and Bambang Kuntjoro. (05)