Testimony dents defense of ex-Bapindo bosses

JAKARTA (JP): A pilot, a stewardess and two journalists yesterday virtually shattered the main defense of former directors of Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) who are on trial for allowing the government bank to lose $620 million in its dealings with businessman Eddy Tansil.

The four witnesses testified that they flew from Jakarta with then finance minister J.B. Sumarlin to Irian Jaya on June 2, 1992 and did not return until three days later.

The Bapindo directors have been building their defense on their allegation that they were pressured by Sumarlin in his capacity as the bank's chief commissioner to continue lending to Tansil despite the huge risk involved.

Sjahrizal, one of the former directors now on trial, said that on June 2, 1992, he was summoned to Sumarlin's office and ordered specifically by the minister to continue to lend to Tansil.

The bank's board of directors earlier that day had decided to cut their losses with Tansil and stop further loans, at the time standing at $208 million. They said Sumarlin's order influenced their decision to continue their loans.

Sumarlin, now the chairman of the Supreme Audit Board, denied ever giving such an order and said that the meeting never took place because he was out of town on that date.

Yesterday four people supported Sumarlin's `alibi' when they testified at the trial of Towil Heryoto, one of the accused former Bapindo directors.

Capt. Ida Bagus Danur of the Pelita Air Service told the court that he flew Sumarlin and 11 other passengers in a chartered airplane to Jayapura on that date.

"I knew he was Sumarlin, because he came into the plane's cockpit and shook my hand," Danur told the court, adding that he flew the delegation back to Jakarta on June 5.

Bambang Eko Suroyo, a cameraman of the state-owned TVRI, testified that he flew with Sumarlin for a working visit to the Irian Jaya province, as well as to attend the closing ceremony of the 1992 election campaign of Golkar.

Bambang Eko said he, together with Amos Ginting, a TVRI reporter, Bambang Aji Setiadi, a reporter of the Tempo weekly, and another reporter of Neraca business daily, accompanied Sumarlin on the visit to local government-built housing complex and schools and to attend the closing ceremony of the election campaign.

Bambang Aji confirmed he covered Sumarlin's trip to Irian Jaya for Tempo. "I even interviewed him for two hours on our flight back to Jakarta," he added.

He then produced a clipping of his article from the visit.

Sri Handayani, a stewardess of the charter firm, also testified about Sumarlin's trip to Jayapura but pointed out that she had no recollection about the purpose of the trip.

However, she remembered that the passengers were given Golkar's yellow T-shirts on board the plane.

Besides Tansil and Sjahrizal, two other former Bapindo directors are being tried separately; Subekti Ismaun and Bambang Kuntjoro.

All four have cited pressure from the top as the reason why they lent nearly $500 million between 1989 and 1993 to Tansil without subjecting him to normal scrutiny.

Besides pressure from Sumarlin, they blamed Sudomo, who was then coordinating minister for political affairs and security, for influencing their decision to lend the money to Tansil in the first place.

Sudomo, now chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council, admitted writing a letter of reference in support of Tansil's loan applications with Bapindo, but insisted that the bank should have scrutinized Tansil's creditworthiness before approving the loans.

Tansil has already been convicted to 17 years in jail and fined Rp 500 billion ($230 million). An executive of Bapindo's Jakarta branch who held Tansil's account was given nine years. (imn)