Treatment of Maman 'standard procedure'
Treatment of Maman 'standard procedure'
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman defended yesterday the treatment of former Bapindo bank executive Maman Suparman, before and after his death, as being standard procedure.
Speaking to reporters after a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives, which heard a draft on the establishment of a high court in East Timor, Oetojo said that there was nothing wrong in the officials' handling procedures.
"Maman was immediately brought to the Kramat Jati police hospital in an ambulance after he was found groaning and vomiting in his cell," Oetojo said.
In response to questions, Oetojo said that it is standard procedure for all inmates to be brought to the police hospital for security reasons, despite the fact that the Cipto Mangunkusumo is located closer to Salemba prison.
Maman, 49, died of a heart attack in the Kramat Jati police hospital in East Jakarta on Tuesday.
Maman, former deputy chairman of Bapindo's Jakarta branch, had spent two years of a nine-year prison sentence for his role in the loan scam, causing a Rp 1.3 trillion (US$ 620 million) loss to the state. The court also fined him Rp 15 million.
Four other Bapindo executives, Syahrizal, Bambang Kuntjoro, Subekti Ismaun and Towil Heryoto, were also found guilty.
They were on the board of directors when state-owned Bapindo loaned nearly $500 million to businessman Eddy Tansil between 1989 and 1993 to finance his ambitious petrochemical project in Cilegon, West Java.
The loan turned sour and Tansil was sentenced to 17 years in prison for cashing in the loans with the help of insiders and bypassing standard banking procedures.
Syahrizal and Subekti were sentenced to six years in jail, while Towil and Bambang got eight and four years respectively.
The Supreme Court recently turned down Maman's and the four others' appeals and upheld their sentences, but increased Tansil's sentence to 20 years.
Oetojo denied the possibility that Maman had been murdered.
"None of the doctor's examination results indicate any violence," he said.
He said that the result of the examination, which classified the cause of death as "others", has yet to be verified.
"There are 14 types of diseases in the 'others column', such as heart attack, cholera, diphtheria and hepatitis," he said.
Oetojo said that Maman's record of health during his imprisonment was good, except that Maman was a habitual smoker and had asthma.
The minister said there was a possibility that Maman became short of breath on his way to the police hospital.
"When the hospital's doctor examined him at 6:35 a.m., Maman was not breathing anymore," he said, adding that Maman reached the hospital five minutes earlier.
He also said that Maman's wife had waived the right to have an autopsy performed, displaying a copy of Mrs. Komariah's statement.
Maman's lawyer, Denny Kailimang, earlier questioned the officials' procedures on the day of Maman's death.
Denny also said that the Supreme Court had failed to hand Maman its decision on his appeal. The Supreme Court upheld the provincial court's decision to sentence Maman to nine years.
Sudjatman, head of the South Jakarta District Court where Maman was tried, told reporters yesterday that his subordinates had failed to see Maman to give him the Supreme Court's decision.
"We could not give the decision to other people. Maman should have signed it personally," Sudjatman said. He said that the Rp 15 million fine imposed on Maman was automatically dropped after the defendant's death. (imn/29)