Hans David Tampobolon , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 02/24/2010 9:38 AM | Headlines
Two ruling coalition parties have demanded that Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati face due legal process for the policy to bail out Bank Century.
This was despite last-ditch efforts to change the course of the parliamentary inquiry into the bailout.
In its final report, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) accused Boediono and Mulyani of wrongdoing.
“As such, we demand they face due legal process by the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] and other law enforcement agencies,” PDI-P spokesman Maruarar Sirait said at a meeting of the House of Representatives’ inquiry committee into the bailout.
However, the demand is far from a done deal, as the findings of the inquiry committee must be presented for approval at a plenary session of the House on March 2. In previous cases, similar inquiries have floundered at this stage.
The PDI-P also threw some of the blame on Bank Indonesia deputy governors at the time, Miranda Goeltom, Aulia Pohan and Anwar Nasution, as well as former central bank governor Burhanuddin Abdullah.
Maruarar said these three had proved to be reckless and had carried out numerous violations in monitoring the bank, which had to be bailed out at a cost of Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million).
The bailout was authorized in November 2008 by Mulyani and Boediono, the BI governor at the time.
The two have repeatedly stressed their decision was the right one, given that in the midst of the global economic crisis, Century’s potential collapse posed a systemic threat to the country’s banking sector.
During the course of the parliamentary inquiry into the bailout, the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) — both in the coalition led by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party — have emerged as the most outspoken critics of the government policy behind the bailout, also calling for Mulyani and Boediono to be held accountable.
The PDI-P and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), meanwhile, have piled on the pressure from outside the coalition.
In recent days, high-level officials from the coalition parties have spoken about intensified political lobbying by the Democratic Party in the run-up to the House committee announcing its findings on the bailout.
In its conclusion, the Democratic Party on Tuesday defended a policy used to salvage Bank Century, saying the bailout was extended in accordance with the law.
Investigations into the fund disbursements had not found any evidence that the party or campaign team of President Yudhoyono had benefited from the bailout, Democratic Party spokesman Achsanul Qosasi said Tuesday.
“The facts show that after the bailout, the crisis did not continue and Indonesia managed to emerge from the crisis,” Achsanul told a meeting of the House of Representatives inquiry committee for the Century bailout.
The party, however, said the management of the bank and Bank Indonesia leaders were to blame for a flawed acquisition and the merger of Bank Pikko, Bank Danpac and Bank CIC into Bank Century in 2001.
“The policy that allowed the merger and acquisition to take place violated the BI regulation at that time,” he said.
The party recommended legal action against the management of Bank Century, now Bank
Mutiara, for breaching of the banking law.
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