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span class="inline inline-left">KPK Chairman Abraham Samad. KOMPAS/HERUDIN In an attempt to prevent the Bank Century bailout case from being used as a political football ahead of the 2014 election, the financial scandal will be resolved no later than December 2012.

The commitment was made on Wednesday by the State Audit Body (BPK), the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and a House of Representatives (DPR) team closely supervising the 2008 scandal.

“The Bank Century bailout case must be resolved through legal measures,” KPK chairman Abraham Samad was quoted by Antara as saying.

The Bank Century scandal centers on a bailout totaling Rp 6.76 trillion (US$757.12 million) in late 2008.

Among other irregularities found in a forensic audit by the BPK was a fund transfer to Hartanto Edhie Wibowo and his wife Satya Kumala Sari, in-laws of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Responding to this report, Yudhoyono said on Monday that they were customers of the bank before the bank received the bailout money.

“They had nothing to do with the alleged wrongdoings surrounding the bailout,” the President said.

BPK, KPK and House supervising teams all agreed that the bailout had caused potential state losses.

KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto proposed on Wednesday that his office would seek opinions from legal experts on the BPK findings. But this idea was rejected by legislators, who said the BPK findings were more than enough to follow up the case.

“The Bank Century case is clear. It must be followed up quickly,” said legislator Hendrawan Supratikno.

Another member of the House’s supervising team, Azis Syamsuddin, said the previous leadership of the KPK under then chief Busyro Muqoddas had also sought expert legal advice. Based on this advice, the KPK concluded there were no irregularities or state losses in the bailout.

If the KPK insisted on seeking the opinion of legal experts, Azis said, the antigraft body needed to find independent and objective experts who could examine the case properly.

Kompas.com

Fellow legislator Chaeruman Harahap called on the KPK to finish with the Bank Century scandal this year. “Everything is clear. All we need is the political will [to resolve this scandal],” he said.

Busyro Muqoddas declined to name the experts who had given opinions on the bailout, saying it could disrupt the investigation process. He added that their testimony was protected by law.

So far, the KPK have questioned 33 witnesses from Bank Indonesia, five banking experts and 30 others.

In addition, the President issued a presidential regulation ordering his top ministers to recover the overseas assets of Bank Century.

The team, headed by Vice President Boediono, consists of Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsudin, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo and Attorney General Basrief Arief.