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Critics sink teeth into VP over Century case

The Nazaruddin scandal that has mired Democratic Party officials and brought the party to the brink of chaos has provided fresh impetus for rivals to put more pressure on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his party

Bagus BT Saragih (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, August 20, 2011

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Critics sink teeth into VP over Century case

T

he Nazaruddin scandal that has mired Democratic Party officials and brought the party to the brink of chaos has provided fresh impetus for rivals to put more pressure on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his party.

Officials from rival political parties — including from the Democratic Party-led ruling coalition — warned Friday that they would strongly endorse a deeper probe into the controversial 2008 Bank Century bailout.

This time the main target is Vice President Boediono and former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, currently a managing director at the World Bank. Boediono was Bank Indonesia governor while Sri Mulyani was Yudhoyono’s finance minister at the time.

Lawmakers applauded the Supreme Audit Agency’s (BPK) forensic audit into the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$791.1 million) bailout of ailing Bank Century in 2008, claiming it contain “clear evidence” of mismanagement in the disbursement of bailout funds.

A member of the House of Representatives’ supervisory team on the bailout, Akbar Faisal of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), said the audit hinted at “stronger clues as to what really happened” during the bailout of Bank Century, which has been re-branded Bank Mutiara.

“BPK officials told us during our visit to the agency Thursday that the forensic audit was 35 percent complete. It is still far from finished, but we saw indications of criminal conduct. Once the audit is finished, the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] will no longer have any excuse not to investigate it,” he said Friday.

A House plenary meeting in March 2010 concluded that there were numerous incidents of mismanagement by the Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia in disbursing bailout funds.

The meeting also recommended that the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office and the KPK follow up the findings of the House inquiry on the bailout.

While the police and AGO have charged a number of former Bank Century officials and businessmen with banking crimes, none has been charged with corruption. The KPK has repeatedly said there was no evidence of corrupt practices in the bailout.

Akbar said the forensic audit showed that hundreds of fictitious transactions were made to “deliberately” reduce Bank Century’s liquidity.

“We know of 60 enormous transactions made through dubious banking processes,” he said.

Fahri Hamzah from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), another member of the House supervisory team, said the audit proved that investment firm PT Antaboga Delta Securities was affiliated with Bank Century.

“Bank Mutiara will no longer be able to deny its obligation to resolve [cases of] fraud at Antaboga and pay back money belonging to its investors,” he said.

BPK spokesman Bahtiar Arif confirmed the agency had been conducting a forensic audit since July, but refused to give details. “It is still ongoing, no reports have been made yet,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said the results of the audit would strengthen stalled efforts to impeach the Vice President.

A number of lawmakers claim Boediono should be held responsible for irregularities in the bailout.

Boediono spokesman Yopie Hidayat said it would not be wise to comment on an ongoing audit. “It may be misconstrued as an attempt to intervene in the BPK’s duties,” he told the Post, adding that Boediono supported the audit process to prove that it was carried out in a legal manner.

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