Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The naming of Prosperous Justice Party lawmaker Mukhamad Misbakhun as a suspect is a warning to the eight other lawmakers who pressed for the House of Representatives' inquiry into the Bank Century bailout, a Democrat lawmaker said on Sunday.
"One of the team members is now a suspect. I'm afraid suspicion will fall on the other team members," Ruhut Sitompul said.
Misbakhun, who helped initiate the House probe that ruled the bailout illegal, has reportedly been named a suspect for allegedly using a fictitious letter of credit to access Bank Century funds.
"But please note that the naming [of Misbakhun as a suspect] is not revenge; it's law enforcement," Ruhut added, though he acknowledged that his party, the main defender of the controversial Rp 6.7 trillion ($743.7 million) bailout, stood to benefit most from this turn of events.
Officials of Misbakhun's party, known as PKS, could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but have previously said they would not interfere to protect him.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police source told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that "Misbakhun was referred to as a suspect in the letter that had been sent to the president" last week.
The source was referring to a letter seeking President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's permission to summon Misbakhun as a suspect. According to the law, the police must seek the president's permission before summoning a legislator.
Ruhut said Yudhoyono would not reject the police request. "From the start, Pak SBY has stated that the police must investigate the case. And we all know that he has a strong commitment to anticorruption [efforts]," Ruhut said.
But a National Police spokesperson, Chief Comr. Zulkarnaen, said he had not yet received any information from the detectives handling the case regarding Misbakhun's status.
Misbakhun also appeared to be in the dark. "There has not been any official information given to me regarding my status," he said. "I have told the National Police everything. There is nothing fictitious about my letter of credit."
According to Century dossiers obtained by the Globe, the letter of credit was endorsed by Bank Century majority stakeholder Robert Tantular, who was later sentenced to five years in prison for banking crimes and defrauding Century customers.
The endorsement enabled PT Selalang Prima Internasional, which is majority-owned by Misbakhun, to obtain a $22.5 million credit on Nov. 19, 2007, to finance the import of plastic.
The credits were given even before any collateral was submitted to the bank. It was not until Nov. 27, 2007, that Misbakhun submitted a deposit of only $4.5 million as collateral.
A year after the deal, Misbakhun began defaulting on his debt because he said the import deal went sour after his business partner in the United States backed off due to the global financial crisis.
By this time, Bank Century had been taken over by the government and Rp 6.7 trillion in bailout funds injected.