T

he House of Representatives'€™ Commission III overseeing legal affairs has lashed out at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for failing to prosecute former vice president Boediono and other Bank Indonesia (BI) governor'€™s board members in connection with the controversial 2008 Rp 6.7 trillion bailout of Bank Century, calling on the commission to hand over the case to the National Police.

The KPK has so far only prosecuted former BI deputy governor Budi Mulya, and the antigraft body is currently in limbo following the suspension of its chairman, Abraham Samad, and deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto, due to criminal charges.

Samad had pledged to prosecute Boediono and others in the case before the end of his tenure in December, but the investigation into the case may be discontinued, as the current interim KPK leaders have hinted they were focusing on other cases.

'€œThe KPK is currently in the recovery process until it has new leaders in December, but the public cannot wait until the new leaders [are installed] to prosecute other individuals in the case. Thus, it is better if the case is transferred to the police for swift action,'€ Commission III member Bambang Soesatyo said on Sunday.

The Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Budi to 10 years in prison in July 2014, after which the KPK has said it would wait until the Supreme Court ruled on Budi'€™s appeal before investigating others in the case. In April, the Supreme Court confirmed Budi'€™s conviction and increased his sentence to 15 years. As of today, however, no fresh probe has been launched against other figures in the case.

Others implicated in include former BI senior deputy governor Miranda Goeltom and former BI deputy governors Siti C. Fadjrijah, Budi Rochadi, Muliaman Hadad, Hartadi Sarwono and Ardhayadi Mitroatmodjo. The case also implicates former Bank Century shareholder Robert Tantular, the bank'€™s president director, Hermanus Muslim, and economist Raden Pardede, who served as the Financial Sector Policy Committee (KKSK) secretary.

'€œThe Bank Century case deserves priority treatment. New KPK leaders will effectively start working on January 2016, which is [a] long [time away],'€ Bambang said.

The initiator of the House 2009 inquiry team into Bank Century case said it was unfair if Budi was the only one prosecuted in the case, as the bailout decision was made collectively at the central bank.

The KPK charged Budi with violating articles 2 and 3 of Law No. 20/2001 on corruption in conjunction with articles 55 and 64 of the Criminal Code on collective crime and continuous crime. The use of Article 55 suggests prosecution of other individuals at a later date.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said since the antigraft body had yet to launch a new probe into the case, all other law enforcement institutions like the National Police and the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) were free to investigate without an official transfer from the KPK.

We have completed the investigation into Budi, and so far that'€™s the only investigation we have done. So which investigation should be transferred at this point? Still, the door is open for others to jump into the case,'€ Priharsa said.

KPK interim deputy chairman Johan Budi said the KPK still wanted to investigate other individuals in the case, but any new probe would not be opened until KPK investigators were done studying the Supreme Court'€™s ruling on Budi.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto said the National Police had no authority to comment on the possible transfer of the Bank Century case from the KPK to the police.

'€œIt'€™s not in our power to issue any statement about it,'€ Agus said on Sunday.