Trial of former Bapindo boss will start next week

Trial of former Bapindo boss will start next week

JAKARTA (JP): Three former cabinet ministers are expected to
take the witness stand during the trial of Towil Heryoto, a
former director of the scandal-ridden Bapindo state bank.

The trial is slated to begin at the South Jakarta District
Court on Monday. The court's chief justice, Soedjatman, made the
announcement yesterday and said he will lead the panel of judges
in the trial.

Towil Heryoto is one of four former Bapindo directors
suspected of involvement in the scam, which is reported to have
defrauded the state to the tune of Rp 1.3 trillion (US$ 620
million).

The trial promises to disclose more details of the loan scam
as the three former cabinet ministers are expected to clarify
their role in the affair.

The three are former coordinating minister of political
affairs and security Sudomo, former finance minister J.B.
Sumarlin and former junior finance minister Nasrudin Sumintapura.
All three still hold high government posts as chairman of the
Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), chairman of the Supreme Audit
Board and member of DPA, respectively.

Towil's trial follows those of Eddy Tansil, the owner of the
Golden Key Group of companies to whom the loans were extended,
and Maman Suparman, the former deputy manager of Bapindo's
Jakarta branch. Both these trials are now reaching their closing
stages.

Three other former Bapindo directors are still being
questioned by the Attorney General's office and their dossiers
are expected to be presented to the court soon. They are
Sjahrizal, Subekti Ismaun and Bambang Kuntjoro.

Meanwhile, at Maman's trial yesterday, the prosecutors urged
the court to ignore the defense arguments presented both by the
defendant and his lawyers.

The prosecutors rejected all points in the arguments and
persisted in demanding that the court sentence Maman to 13 years
imprisonment for his role in the scam.

Government prosecutors also rejected the explanation of the
defendant's source of wealth, which Maman claimed came entirely
from savings and earnings he made from 1984 to 1993, totaling
RP423 million ($197,000).

The prosecutors said that the defendant had marked up the
amount of his savings and earnings by using a high average
interest rate of 20 percent per year and extending the period of
time to 1993, two years after he bought a Rp365-million house in
an exclusive residential area at Pulomas, East Jakarta.

The prosecutors also said that Maman had admitted in earlier
court sessions that he had received bribes for several credits
which he helped to get approved.

In a related development, a former district head testified
yesterday in a court in Serang, West Java, that he had received
payments from Tansil's employee "as a token of gratitude." These
payments were reportedly made after he helped approve the
acquisition of 64,300 square meters of land in Argawana village,
between 1990 and 1991.

Raden K. Husein, who was the head of the Bojonegara district,
said he also received other payments for issuing the necessary
documents for the land. These payments reportedly amounted to 0.5
percent of the land price of Rp482 million.

Husein was testifying in the trial of a man, identified only
by the initials STB, who was being tried for selling state-owned
land to the Golden Key Group of companies owned by Tansil.

Today, Tansil's trial is scheduled to move to the area where
Tansil had planned to build an integrated petrochemical industry
project. (05)