Tue, 20 Sep 1994

Tansil hands over industrial ventures to govt

JAKARTA (JP): Eddy Tansil, who was convicted of swindling Rp 962 billion ($448 million) from the state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia, has handed over three of his most prized industrial ventures to the government in order to repay his debts.

Tansil, while testifying during the trial of one of Bapindo's directors incriminated in the scam, told the South Jakarta District Court yesterday that he has also agreed to sell a number of properties to raise the money needed to repay for Bapindo losses.

He said that on Sept. 15 he handed over the titles to the industrial plants and property to Bank Dagang Negara, also a government bank, and empowered it to sell to the highest bidder. The proceeds will go to Bapindo.

The owner of the Golden Key Group was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment by a court in Jakarta last month for his role in the Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million) loan scandal at Bapindo. The court also ordered him to pay Rp 500 million in restitution. He is currently appealing the sentence.

Before he was convicted, Tansil made a similar gesture, hoping to hand over some of his industrial projects in return for an acquittal. The offer, however, was flatly rejected.

The three industrial plants he submitted are PT Hamparan Rejeki, a petrochemical plant, PT Glasifibindo Indah, fiberglass plant, and PT Sukma Beta Sempurna, a printed circuit board plant.

Tansil yesterday testified in the trial of Towil Heryoto, one of four former Bapindo directors who is being tried in connection with the scandal.

He acknowledged yesterday that he relied on the assistance, directly or otherwise, of top government officials, to obtain the loans, getting them disbursed between 1989 and 1993.

He said he had difficulties in meeting with Bapindo directors.

Towil for one was awkward, Tansil said to the laughter of those present in the court.

Tansil was referring to Sudomo and J.B. Sumarlin, who were members of the cabinet until 1993 as coordinating minister for political affairs and security and minister of finance, respectively. Sudomo is now the chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council and Sumarlin chairs the Supreme Audit Agency.

Sudomo's role was in providing him with a letter of reference in support of his loan application, Tansil said. Sumarlin's role was more in helping to speed up the loan application process.

Tansil, however, also exposed some of the weaknesses in the way Bapindo dealt with his loan accounts, including the fact that the bank never insisted that he furnish it with a progress report regarding the petrochemical projects which were financed by the loans.

Another testimony was provided by Anthony Siregar of Bank Indonesia (central bank) who said that Bapindo violated a number of basic procedures in handling Tansil's accounts.

Bapindo never insisted that Tansil open a deposit account, as is normally required of loan applicants, and the bank also failed to make a thorough evaluation of Tansil's credibility, Anthony said.

He also blamed the Bapindo directors for intervening in Tansil's loan affairs too much to the point of eliminating the functions that should have been carried out by the bank's Jakarta branch which originally handled the loans. (02)