Skip to main content

Bank Century inquiry has no legal implication: Govt

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 02/25/2010 8:59 PM | National

The government insists that the House of Representatives’ inquiry into the Bank Century bailout has no legal implication on those some political parties said were held responsible for the policy.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said Thursday the inquiry was a political process and therefore the parties’ findings of alleged violations committed by then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, who is now the Vice President, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in the bailout policy were debatable.

“It must be understood that the dynamics at [the House in] Senayan were a political, not legal, process. Debates occurred out there could not be separated from the views of the political parties,” Djoko said at the presidential office.

He said the political parties had given an impression that the figures they named in their findings were already guilty, which he deemed was improper.

“The legislative body is a political institution, not a legal one. Finding someone guilty or not is beyond the House’s authority,” Djoko said.

He added, however, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had opted to refrain from immediately reacting to the findings. The President will respond to the inquiry results in a speech to be delivered in the near future.

Mulyani and Boediono authorized in November 2008 the bailout worth Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million), which was deemed controversial as it ten folded the original estimation.

Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the Prosperous Justice Party and the People’s Conscience Party could face libel charges for naming Boediono, Mulyani and other officials in their conclusion statements read out in the inquiry committee hearing on Tuesday.

“We expect our friends to respect the law…revealing the names can be considered a libel. We regret this,” he said.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Wake of Protests, Khamenei Faces Split Inside Regime

By Geneive Abdo Iran Analyst, The Century Foundation The basij militias may have crushed the historic street protests against Iran’s election results, but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei now faces a more pressing problem: how to prevent a potent coalition of political elites arrayed against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from destabilizing the entire Islamic political system – and undercutting his own power, too. Western journalists, politicians and pundits have largely focused on the unrest in the streets of Tehran – the worst in the history of the Islamic republic – usually with the underlying, if unjustified, assumption that popular rebellion against clerical rule is at last at hand. However, the real battle is taking place inside the closed world of Iran’s clerical caste, particularly among the relatively confined circle of the “political mullahs” and their lay allies – all of whom have eschewed traditional Shi’ite teachings against direct involvement in political affairs. A “coali...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former Iraqi Official Gets 7 Years for Expelling Kurds

By VOA News 02 August 2009 An image from Al-Iraqia TV station of former deputy PM Tariq Aziz in Baghdad (file) Iraq's highest court has sentenced former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz to seven years in prison for expelling Kurds from northern Iraq during former dictator Saddam Hussein's rule. The Iraqi High Tribunal handed down the sentence Sunday. Aziz was deputy prime minister when Iraq invaded Kuwait and during the 1991 Gulf War. He served as an international spokesman for the Iraqi government. Also Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki traveled to Iraq's Kurdish region to meet Kurdish politicians in an effort to resolve disputes over land and oil. Mr. Maliki met near the city of Sulaymaniyah with the Kurdish region's newly re-elected President Massoud Barzani and Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, who also is a Kurd. After the meeting, Mr. Maliki said the two sides agreed to hold furthe...
Post a Comment
Read more