House needs BI to clarify bribery case in note printing

Lawmaker Maruarar Sirait said Wednesday the House of Representatives should summon Bank Indonesia top officials and ask them to clarify alleged bribery related to the printing of Indonesian currency in Australia in 1999.

"I will ask the House commission IX leaders to summon BI top officials," Maruarar, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle legislator, said.

BI will be expected to explain the procedure of note printing tender, he added.

"We will use a presumption of innocent principle, if the report is not correct, BI name should be rehabilitated," Maruarar said.

An Australian media, the Age, reported that Securency and its sister company, Note Printing Australian (NPA), are under scrutiny for paying more than $US50 million to middlemen in corruption-prone countries after they were awarded note printing and supply contracts by foreign central banks.

It was also reported that Securency and NPA agreed to pay Christanto a $3.65 million commission after he helped win a 1999 contract to print Rp 100,000 ($11) banknotes for BI.

Correspondence from Christanto in 1999 suggests two other men believed to be Indonesian central bank officials were to receive $1.3 million in bribes from Securency and NPA.