Tansil's trial slated to begin on May 10

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court will begin the trial of Eddy Tansil, the businessman at the center of the massive loan scandal at Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo), on May 10.

The court's chief Judge Soetrisno made the announcement yesterday and said he will lead the panel of judges in the trial.

Tansil, who is being charged under the 1971 anti-corruption law, will be the first person to be tried in connection with the the Rp 1.3 trillion (US$620 million) scandal at the state bank.

Soetrisno's announcement came only two days after he received the dossiers of Tansil from the Attorney General's office.

Next in line is Maman Soeparman, formerly a Bapindo deputy branch manager, whose dossiers were also presented on Saturday to the South Jakarta district court.

Tansil, owner of the Golden Key Group, received $436 million in loans from Bapindo, allegedly in violation of normal banking practices with insiders' help.

Now, the Attorney General's office is also interrogating four former Bapindo directors in connection with the scandal.

Meanwhile A. Sutomo, the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes who is heading the investigation, said yesterday that Tansil and Maman were still being detained at the Attorney General's office because their presence was needed to help with the investigation of the other four suspects.

Technically, the courts should have jurisdiction over the two men the moment their dossiers were presented.

Sutomo also confirmed yesterday that the latest investigation found that four middle level managers of Bapindo received each Rp 200 million ($93,000) from Tansil to help him disburse the loans.

The four were staff of the bank's export-import division, he said.

They are not currently in custody. (02)