Democratic Party: Bank Century debacle none of House's business

The Democratic Party considers the Bank Century bail out scandal is under the authority of the the law enforcement officials, not that of the House of Representatives.

"If the Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK) investigative financial audit shows that there is a possibility for a criminal act to have taken place in the bail out policy, then it must be resolved by law enforcement officials, not by an inquiry committee established by the House," Democratic Party faction chairman Anas Urbaningrum told reporters at the House in Jakarta on Tuesday.

As of now, the Democratic Party, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's party, is the only party that has yet to sign the petition proposing an inquiry committee into the controversial Bank Century bailout.

Separately, a legislator from the Greater Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra), Desmon Mahesa, told The Jakarta Post that Anas needed to learn more about the law and about House authority to probe into a matter using an inquiry committee.

"We are not aiming to legally process anyone with the establishment of an inquiry right committee. Establishing such a committee is our constitutional right, because we saw that there is a possibility for the BPK to meet a dead-end in its audit," he said.

"The dead-end is because the law does not allow the BPK to obtain data from the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Center (PPATK), the institution that probes where the bail-out fund was channeled. Using an inquiry committee, the House will be able to investigate into that matter," he said.

Desmon also said that if the Democratic Party still refused to endorse the petition for the inquiry committee to be established, then it would only raise people's suspicion even more.

"That suspicion is that the bail-out fund was channeled to the Democratic Party's campaign team," he said.

The government had initially said that the bail out would only cost Rp 632 billion (US$65 million) but it ended up ballooning to Rp 6.7 trillion.

The government argued that the bailout was necessary to prevent a chain reaction affecting other banks.

Critics, however, say the bank was bailed out not out of desire to protect the economy from the effect of the global financial crisis, but rather as part of a scheme to rescue the savings of high-profile and politically connected depositors.