Trial of former Bapindo president to go on

Trial of former Bapindo president to go on

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court yesterday ruled
that the government prosecutors have a valid case against Subekti
Ismaun, the former president of the government-owned Bank
Pembangunan Indonesia, and ordered that the trial proceed.

Presiding judge Soedjatman overruled all objections raised by
the lawyers of Subekti.

Subekti, 55, is being tried for corruption in connection with
the Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million) loan scandal at Bapindo. The
government prosecutors said Subekti and other members of the
board of directors should be held accountable for allowing the
bank to lose such a huge sum in dealings with businessman Eddy
Tansil.

Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key Group, was sentenced last
week to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay Rp 500 billion in
restitution and Rp 30 million in fines. A former deputy manager
of Bapindo's branch in Jakarta, Maman Suparman, was sentenced to
nine years imprisonment for his role in helping Tansil swindle
Bapindo of $448 million.

Subekti's lawyers have appealed to the court to throw away the
charges against their client, saying that the most crucial
decisions were apparently made by other directors.

Amir Syamsuddin, chief of Subekti's defense counsel,
vehemently argued against the prosecutor's attempt to make the
bank's directors collectively accountable although they are being
tried separately.

Judge Soedjatman, as widely expected, said he found nothing
untoward in the government's dossier.

"The charges are correct," he said. "I therefore rule to
adjourn this hearing until Sept. 1 to proceed with testimony from
witnesses."

He told the defense lawyers that their argument against the
concept of collective responsibility is a matter to be contested
during the trial.

He said each member of the board of directors will be fully
responsible for his actions. "A director's decision in a
directors' meeting determines whether he is guilty or not."

Towil Heryoto, another member of the board, is also being
tried in the same court. Two other former directors, Sjahrizal
and Bambang Kuntjoro, will be formally arraigned at Central
Jakarta District Court today. All are being charged with
corruption.

Holiday

Subekti was on a holiday when the decision to continue to
extend the loans to Tansil was made in June 1992 by the other
directors in spite of their knowledge of the huge potential risks
that such a decision entailed.

He has also insisted that he was not fully informed of the
status of Tansil's account with the bank until much later and
that he allowed the other directors to take care of the details.

Subekti however presided over the board when the first loans
to Tansil were originally approved in 1989, apparently because he
was carrying a letter of reference from Sudomo, then a powerful
cabinet minister. He had already retired from the bank when the
scandal unfolded early this year. (02)