House plans to summon RBA officials over BI case

JAKARTA: The House of Repre-sentatives plans to summon representatives of Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to clarify a news report saying they bribed officials from Indonesia's central bank to win a contract to print bank notes in 1999.

"They must explain to us exactly which Bank Indonesia senior officials they referred to in their report. If the allegation is true, then this will only confirm our perception the central bank is corrupt," M. Romahurmusiy, a lawmaker from the United Development Party (PPP), said Friday.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said Friday it had received a further report on the alleged bribery case. KPK deputy chairman M. Jasin said the antigraft body officially accepted the report on the case on May 25. Jasin refused to name the reporter's identity.

The case surfaced following a report in the Australian daily newspaper The Age about allegedly illegal payments worth US$1.3 million to BI officials, identified by their initials as S and M, to help RBA firms secure a contract worth more than $50 million.

So far, a former BI governor, three former deputy governors and several other senior officials at the central bank have been convicted of misappropriating BI funds. - JP