Tansil's trial slated to begin on May 10

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)