A

team of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators has questioned a former central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), official working for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the United States about the Bank Century scandal.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said on Thursday that the investigators on Wednesday (local time) probed former BI director of banking research and regulation, Wimboh Santoso, who currently serves as the Southeast Asia executive director at the IMF, as a witness for non-active BI deputy governor Budi Mulya, the only person charged by the antigraft agency in the case.

 'We're not planning only to question former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati when we're there' the spokesman said, adding that questioning of Sri Mulyani would be conducted after Wimboh.

The KPK has sent three investigators to the US to question Mulyani, who is accused of being culpable in the scandal. The antigraft body needed to probe Sri Mulyani to complete the case dossier against Budi, according to a source within the KPK, which has been criticized for its sluggish investigation into the case.

In Jakarta on Thursday, the KPK questioned BI deputy governor Halim Alamsyah also in connection with the case. Speaking after his questioning session, Halim said that he was asked about BI's decision to revise a regulation on the minimum requirements for short-term assistance (FPJP), allowing Bank Century to be eligible for assistance. He, however, declined to explain why the central bank decided to do so.

The massive scandal centered on the controversial decision by BI and government to bail out the mid-sized bank during the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. Bank Century had been under BI's intensive supervision program since 2005, following the bank's purchase of risky bonds worth US$230 million.

A number of frauds, including systematic looting by the bank's former owner Robert Tantular, who was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment, then further undermined the bank. Faced with serious liquidity problems, the bank filed an official request to BI for FPJP in 2008.

However, it became clear that the bank's problems were intentionally caused because its owners, including Robert, had transferred the bank's assets overseas prior to the bailout. The request was not immediately approved because Bank Century's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) did not meet the minimum requirements for FPJP aid.

A high-ranking official meeting took place at BI on Nov. 13, 2008, which was also attended by Budi, where it was decided to revise the regulation. BI and the Finance Ministry then jointly decided in November 2008 to prop up the bank by disbursing Rp 6.76 trillion (US$700 million). They reasoned that the collapse of the ailing bank would have created a domino effect on the banking system and economy amid the unstable global economic situation at that time.