Several parties are calling for Vice President Boediono to be suspended or even impeached for his role in the Bank Century bailout, but it’s not that simple, says the Constitutional Court chief.
“There is still a long way before the Century case could reach impeachment because it is still undergoing a political inquiry at the House of Representatives,” court chief Mahfud M.D. told reporters Wednesday.
He added that he had not seen the committee’s stance so far, so it still needed time to conclude the case, let alone consider impeachment.
“If the Vice President is considered guilty, it is still uncertain if he would be impeached,” he said.
Mahfud said several steps needed to be taken to impeach the second-most important person in the country, first was concluding the inquiry process.
Secondly, impeachment must be decided in a House plenary session that will be attended by two-thirds of the House and approved by two-thirds of those attending.
If President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, which has 148 out of 560 seats at the House, joins forces with one party to reject the impeachment, then it would be blocked.
“You can imagine how difficult it would be,” Mahfud said.
He added that Yudhoyono was clever to form a coalition that protected him or Boediono from possible impeachment. The coalition virtually rules the House with only three parties not included.
Asked about the possible suspension of Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, considered to be responsible for the decision to inject Rp 6.7 trillion (US$703.5 million) into the ailing Bank Century, Mahfud said the suspension of the president or vice president was not recognized in the Constitution or in the law on state administration.
“The suggestion to suspend them is really political. Therefore it must be faced politically as well,” he said, adding that it all depended on the President’s decision.
Boediono was Bank Indonesia governor when the decision to salvage Bank Century was made in November last year.
The bailout became controversial because the Rp 6.76 trillion injected, was much higher than the initial estimate of Rp 689 billion.
The absence of transparent reports on where the money flowed also provoked much suspicion.
