After poring over the Supreme Audit Agency’s (BPK) report on the Bank Century bailout, the parliamentary inquiry team and the antigraft commission are now widening their own probes into the case.
All parties at the House of Representatives, with the sole exception of President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono’s Democratic Party, have lined up either Vice President Boediono or Finance Minister Sri Mulyani in their crosshairs.
Then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono and Mulyani led a meeting on Nov. 21, 2008, that decided on the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) bailout of Century.
The initial estimate for the bailout had been less than Rp 1 trillion.
Members of the House inquiry team said Sunday they wanted to expand their inquiry to all current and former BI officials involved in the merger of three troubled banks to create Century in 2004, as well as those who provided data leading to the bailout decision.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said she believed that while Boediono and Mulyani should be held responsible for the bailout decision, the move was the result of corruption on the part of BI officials.
“BI officials allowed three ailing banks to merge despite warnings from the supervisory board that such a merger should never be allowed,” she said, referring to the merger of Bank CIC, Bank Pikko and Bank Danpac.
The BI governor at the time was Burhanuddin Abdullah, who was replaced by Boediono on April 9, 2008.
“Based on the recordings we obtained of the November 21 meeting, it seems [then BI senior deputy governor] Miranda S. Goeltom was very persistent in urging everyone present to bail out the bank,” Eva said.
On Monday, the House inquiry team will question Burhanuddin, Miranda and Aulia Pohan.
The latter is the father-in-law of Yudhoyono’s oldest son, and is currently serving time for the illegal disbursement of BI funds.
Meanwhile, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said Sunday it had widened its probe to include the merger and how and why the bailout decision was taken, as well as where the money went.
“We’re moving in that direction,” said KPK deputy chairman Bibit Samad Rianto.
Back at the House, the Golkar Party continued its assault on Boediono and Mulyani, in what political analysts say is an attempt to strong-arm Yudhoyono into making political concessions, including getting rid of Mulyani and giving Golkar more Cabinet posts.
“After reading the BPK report, it’s very clear who must be held accountable for the debacle,” said Golkar’s Ade Komaruddin.
“We need to run this report by Boediono and Mulyani as soon as possible.”
Boediono will be questioned by the committee on Tuesday, and Mulyani after Jan. 4.
