T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday lambasted Vice President Boediono for claiming that Wednesday'€™s verdict against former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Budi Mulya in the Bank Century case was based on '€œinadequate'€ evidence.

Boediono was the BI governor when the scandal-hit bailout was agreed in 2008.

KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said that Boediono'€™s statement, which he made through his spokesman Yopie Hidayat on Thursday, was an insult to the court.

'€œI am not really sure whether the spokesman speaks on behalf of Boediono as the Vice President [or as former BI governor]. Pak Boediono is not that kind of person as far as I know. [If that is really the case] then, such a statement has clearly underestimated the court is perhaps even insulting to the court,'€ Bambang said on Thursday responding to Boediono'€™s statement one day after the court sentenced Budi to 10 years behind bars for his role in the Century bailout.

Bambang said Yopie and Boediono should not have made such a claim as they had not closely followed the nearly five-month trial.

'€œOne thing to note is that the KPK questioned more than 100 people in its investigation into the case to collect evidence and KPK prosecutors also presented dozens of witnesses to testify during the trial. How could they make such a claim as they did not sit through the entire trial process?'€ Bambang went on.

The panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday found that Budi had abused his authority collectively with his colleagues on the board of governors, namely Boediono, former BI senior deputy governor Miranda Goeltom, and then BI deputy governors Siti C. Fadjrijah, Budi Rochadi, Muliaman Hadad, Hartadi Sarwono and Ardhayadi Mitroatmodjo.

Others implicated in the verdict include former Bank Century shareholder Robert Tantular and the bank'€™s president director Hermanus Muslim, as well as economist Raden Pardede, who served as the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK) secretary during
the bailout.

The panel of judges found that Budi and '€œcolleagues'€ had abused their authority by channeling Rp 689 billion (US$58.9 million) in short-term financial assistance (FPJP) to keep the bank afloat, and by falsely claiming that Bank Century posed a systemic threat to the banking sector, making it eligible for Rp 6.7 trillion from the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS).

'€œThe testimony of witnesses from BI, who were also involved in the decision to issue the FPJP and the bailout, also clearly revealed that Budi had committed a crime in the FPJP and the bailout policy. The testimony of BI people was used by the judges in formulating their verdict,'€ Bambang said.

'€œThe spokesman and Pak Boediono don'€™t have the authority to determine the competence of the witnesses, whose testimony the judges used to come to their verdict and sentence decisions,'€ he said.

On Thursday, Yopie said that Boediono disagreed with the verdict, which claimed there was a criminal violation in the FPJP policy, adding that the policy was made to save the country'€™s economy in a time of crisis.

'€œThe panel of judges closed their eyes to the fact that came up in the trial, which indicated that there was a crisis at the time of the bailout. The failure of a bank would have systematically effected Indonesia'€™s economy badly. The panel of judges, however, took into account testimony from parties who were not competent,'€ Yopie said, delivering Boediono'€™s comments on the Budi verdict.

Yopie said that according to current regulations, BI was the only institution which had the authority to make a judgment on any policy in the banking sector.

'€œPak Boediono expects that the High Court will be '€˜wiser'€™ in processing the appeal [filed by Budi],'€ Yopie sad.