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raft suspect and former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum will likely testify before a legislative inquiry into the Bank Century bailout, in a move that could be seen as retaliation against his political opponents.

The move could revive lawmakers’ hopes of garnering support for a no-confidence motion against Vice President Boediono, who was the Bank Indonesia governor when the Rp 6.7 trillion (US$696.8 million) bailout was disbursed to Bank Century (now Bank Mutiara) in 2008.

It could also shed light on allegations that the bailout, which has been deemed illegal by the House of Representatives, was part of a clandestine scheme to channel the government funds to help finance the Democratic Party’s legislative election and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s reelection bid in 2009.

Hendrawan Supratikno, a member of the House-sanctioned monitoring committee on the Bank Century case, claimed on Tuesday that some members of the committee had heard that Anas had new and important information about the 2008 bailout.

Hendrawan, a lawmaker from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said Anas’ information may not have been heard before and that it might provide a “clearer connection” between the fishy bailout and the ruling party.

Fellow committee member, Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo, confirmed the committee would summon Anas in the near future.

Speculation that Anas was planning to disclose his “secrets” on the Century case heightened on Sunday when former Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) chief Anwar Nasution, People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) politician Yuddy Chrisnandi and Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso were guests of Anas at his residence in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta.

In 2011, Anwar was the lead auditor on the Bank Century case, while Priyo was among the House leadership appointed to oversee the case.

While Anwar and Priyo refused to confirm whether their meeting with Anas had touched upon the Century bailout, Yuddy hinted that he had heard the bailout was mentioned during Anas’ meeting with Anwar. “Anas was meeting with Anwar and a senior figure from the HMI [Association of Islamic Students] whose name I cannot recall. Their meeting lasted almost one hour,” he said.

Head of the Democratic Party faction at the House, Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, dismissed all the speculation. “I don’t believe [Anas would raise the Century case] because I know what kind of politician Anas is. He is a Yudhoyono loyalist who would never do that kind of thing,” she said. Nurhayati also reiterated that
Yudhoyono and the Democratic Party had not benefited from the bailout.

Anas was not available for comment on Tuesday.

Anas’ home has been flooded with friends and relatives expressing sympathy since the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced on Friday that it had named Anas a suspect for receiving illicit gratuities during his time at the House from 2009 to 2010. Most of them had ties with Anas as fellow former activists of HMI, which he led from 1997 to 1999.

Anas said the investigation into his case was “political” and that it was just one of many things that had yet to be revealed.

Speculation has also been circulating that Anas has evidence about irregular IT procurement by the General Elections Commission (KPU) between 2008 and 2009.

Anas served with the KPU from 2001 to 2005.

Anas’ lawyer, Firman Wijaya, protested against the Immigration Office’s move to revoke Anas’ passport.

Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana defended the action, saying passport revocation was routine to prevent a person implicated in a legal case from traveling overseas.