Former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor and graft defendant Budi Mulya maintained his innocence in court on Monday, saying that he had no role in the 2008 bailout of Bank Century, which resulted in more than Rp 7 trillion (US$583 million) in state losses.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors are seeking a 17-year prison sentence for Budi for his alleged role in the case.

Reading his defense statement at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, Budi said the severe sentence request was '€œshocking'€ and politically motivated.

'€œWith this sentence demand, I believe that there is another factor behind it: pressure and political interest,'€ Budi told the court, reading from his statement.

He said the Century case had been politicized from the very beginning with the involvement of a House of Representatives inquiry committee investigating alleged wrongdoing in the Bank Century bailout.

'€œI am not sure the inquiry committee members would know what the case is really about, unless they follow every single piece of evidence from this trial,'€ he added.

Additionally, he said the KPK prosecutors had made a '€œreckless and hurried decision'€ against him.

Budi also urged the KPK to question '€œother parties'€, whose identities he did not elaborate in the defense plea.

'€œThe criminalization of BI is misguided as it has been deemed fully responsible for this case. Well, I am not the top boss of BI, and I expect truth and justice will be done,'€ Budi said.

Budi also blasted the KPK for not considering seriously that the bailout was done in accordance with an existing regulation.

'€œThis is strange, that KPK prosecutors insisted that the use of regulation in lieu of law [Perpu] No. 2 of 2008 as the foundation for the bailout was wrong,'€ Budi said.

In a dramatic display, Budi broke into tears when addressing his family in his defense statement.

'€œMother and father, this case has put you in a situation of deep sorrow every day. I am standing here to ask God to give me the strength to go through this disaster,'€ he said.

Also present at the court was Budi'€™s daughter Nadia Mulya, a model and television personality, who was sobbing as her father read his defense statement.

'€œI am sad. My daughter said, '€˜What devil possessed the KPK prosecutors when they came up with their hefty sentence demand? My father is 60 years old and this case has ruined my life and his grandchildren.'€™ That'€™s what my daughter said when visiting me at the KPK detention center,'€ Budi said.

KPK prosecutors have said that Budi and a coterie of colleagues abused their authority in 2008 by channeling short-term financial assistance (FPJP) worth Rp 689 billion to keep Bank Century afloat, and by falsely claiming the bank posed a systemic threat to the country'€™s financial industry, making it eligible for Rp 6.7 trillion from the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS).

The crime was allegedly carried out by several policy makers, including Vice President Boediono '€” who was BI governor when the bailout took place '€” then BI senior deputy governor Miranda Goeltom and then BI deputy governors Siti C. Fadjrijah, Budi Rochadi, Muliaman Hadad, Hartadi Sarwono and Ardhayadi Mitroatmodjo.

In addition to the prison sentence, prosecutors asked the panel of judges to order Budi to return Rp 1 billion that he allegedly received from former Bank Century shareholder Robert Tantular in August 2008, around four months before the bailout.

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