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ested interests might play a role in the selection of 37 candidates vying for the top positions at what could be the nation’s financial super-body, given their track record, a corruption watchdog says.

Most candidates are still related to the current financial regulators, the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said in a report, adding there are no civilian representatives with the criminal law background needed for law enforcement for the Financial Services Authority’s (OJK) board of commissioners’ posts.

“In total, there are 20 candidates that have questionable track records — five of whom have retired and are too old and eight of whom pose possible conflicts of interests,” ICW coordinator Danang Widoyoko said in an email sent to The Jakarta Post.

The OJK, set to be fully operational by 2014, will be an oversight body for thousands of banks, insurers, multi-finance, securities houses and other businesses in the financial industry — taking away supervision functions from Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Capital Market and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK).

BI Governor Darmin Nasution argued that experienced professionals in the financial industry are required to fill in the OJK top position because of their know-how in the country’s financial system, which oversees thousands of trillions of people’s funds.

A selection committee, led by Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, will announce this week the 21 OJK board of commissioners candidates to undergo fit and proper tests at the House of Representatives.

The House will then decide on the seven final names to fill in the top position at an oversight body which will supervise banks, insurers, multi-financers, securities houses, and other businesses in the country’s financial system.

“There are also at least 27 cases in the past that implicated OJK commissioner’s candidates,” Danang added.

For example, an OJK commissioner candidate was well-known as a broker for dealing with the House’s budget committee during his tenure as an official at the Finance Ministry, according to the ICW data.

The ICW also suspects one of the OJK commissioner candidates who had played a major role in approving the controversial bailout funds for troubled Bank Century in late 2008, which ballooned by tenfold to Rp 6.7 trillion.

Danang believed that the current OJK selection process had not been transparent and had been riddled with conflicts of interests because the chosen candidates so far have similar backgrounds and job hierarchy.

“Most of the candidates are still actively working as regulators at Bank Indonesia, Bapepam-LK or in financial market industry” he said.

Danang of the ICW also pointed out that there was a possibility of a Bank Mandiri connection favoritism during the OJK selection process.

“The selection committee is led by Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, who is a former Bank Mandiri president director. Its members include Bank Mandiri commissioners Gunarni Soeworo and Mahmudin Yasin. Darmin Nasution is also a former Bank Mandiri commissioner,” he said.

“They are in charge to select candidates who also have Bank Mandiri connections, such as I Wayan Mertayasa and Riswinandi, the current Bank Mandiri vice president director,” Danang added.

The ICW deemed having a civilian representative, with a background in criminal law, as is important, given the fact that the OJK will also be in charge of law enforcement, rather than financial industry supervision.

Commenting on the ICW’s statement, Minister Agus said that the selection committee would put it into consideration. “We embrace all inputs from everyone, not only from ICW.”

“All inputs will be validated by us, as the selection committee, and we will use them as our main consideration in naming the final OJK commissioner candidates that are eligible to go to the next selection process,” he added.

There are nine commissioner posts available in the OJK, with two automatically allocated for officials from the Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia.

Each of the remaining seven posts will be contested by three individuals, making a total of 21 individuals eligible to participate in the final fit and proper test at the House of Representatives Commission XI on finance and banking.

As of now, the prominent names that are still in the race include Bapepam-LK head Nurhaida, central bank Deputy Governor Muliaman Hadad, University of Gadjah Mada economist, former Finance Ministry fiscal policy head Anggito Abimanyu and former Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) chief Yunus Husein.

Former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy commissioner Chandra M. Hamzah is the latest big name that has been kicked out of the race after failing the medical test.