Century Kallapse: Former vice president Jusuf Kalla testifies before the legislative inquiry committee on the Bank Century scandal in Jakarta on Thursday. Kalla said Bank Century collapsed because it was defrauded by its owners. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
Former vice president Jusuf Kalla has claimed he was sidelined from a process that led to the 2008 decision to inject Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) in bailouts to save Bank Century, although he was the acting president.
“I received no report until Nov. 25, 2008, when the bailout decision had been made,” Kalla said during an inquiry with the House of Representatives’ committee on the Century case.
The policy was authorized by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, currently the Vice President, on Nov. 21, 2008.
When the bailout amount was decided, Kalla was mandated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was overseas, to serve as acting president.
A presidential decree issued on Nov. 13, 2008, says that Kalla, as then vice president, was tasked to conduct “presidential daily duties”.
Law expert Irmanputra Sidin said that receiving reports about decisions made by ministers could be included as a presidential daily duty.
“Mulyani said she had sent a text message to me to report [the bailout decision] on Nov. 21.
“However, I never read the message,” Kalla added.
Gayus Lumbuun, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that Mulyani had violated the regulation by failing to report the bailout plan to the then acting president.
Mulyani testified Wednesday that she sent a text message to Kalla on Nov. 21, 2008, at 8:30 a.m., after the decision to save the bank had been made.
Mulyani, however, agreed she might be at error when Andi Rachmat, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), showed her an official letter from her office to the President, saying she had reported to Kalla on Nov. 22.
Andi readdressed his question to Kalla on whether he believed that Mulyani claiming she had reported on Nov. 22, 2008, could be considered a “fait accompli”.
Kalla said that if what Andi had said about the letter was true, then Mulyani’s action could be considered as a “fait accompli”, and that Mulyani must apologize.
On Wednesday, Mulyani told the committee that she was only responsible for a bailout worth Rp 632 billion.
Kalla said that later in 2009, after Sri Mulyani saw the bailout grow 10 times to Rp 6.76 trillion from the initial agreed package of Rp 632 billion, the finance minister said she felt she was manipulated by Bank Indonesia.
“[Mulyani] felt as if she was fooled concerning the final bailout amount,” he said.
Kalla said it was internal fraud, not the global crisis, that destroyed the bank.
“When Pak Boediono and Ibu Sri Mulyani reported to me on Nov. 25, I was surprised that the bank was saved.
“I said it was robbery and asked Pak Boediono to report bank owner Robert Tantular to the police.
“But he refused on the basis there was no legal grounds. That’s why I called the police chief and ordered him to arrest Robert.”
Robert is in jail for five years, recently increased from four, after embezzling customers’ deposits.
Kalla said at that time the global crisis had not impacted greatly on the nation’s economy. He said closing a bank, such as Century, would not have posed a systematic threat.
At a later hearing, Raden Pardede, then secretary of the Financial System Stability Committee, however, echoed earlier statements that the situation at that time was “frightening”, and the bailout was launched “to prevent panic”.
