Anita Rachman – Lawmakers on Wednesday said that after meeting with the National Police, they were increasingly convinced that the country's law enforcers were dragging their feet in investigating the Bank Century bailout.

National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a House of Representatives team monitoring the investigation into the 2008 bailout that police faced difficulties in probing the merger of three banks – PT Bank Pikko, PT Bank CIC Inter-national and PT Bank Danpac – into Bank Century in 2004, because they could not get their hands on original documents.

"It is actually very easy for them to go to Bank Indonesia and ask for the documents. BI cannot refuse the request," Golkar Party lawmaker Nudirman Munir said. "We are afraid that this is part of an effort to buy time."

Nudirman said the investigation into the merger process was crucial because it would lead the National Police to the people high up who were responsible for the scandal. The investigation would also provide information on the green light for the bailout from the central bank.

"It seems that they are trying to cover up all evidence that could lead us to Sri Mulyani and Boediono," Nudirman said, referring to former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono.

Several lawmakers from Golkar Party and the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have repeatedly said that Boediono, then the BI governor, should be questioned and held responsible for the decision to bail out the ailing lender.

Akbar Faisal, from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said the House special committee that probed the bailout had worked with copies of the documents provided by the courts.

He said the committee had handed all the documents to the president once it had finished its investigation, and that it was hoped that the president had in turn handed all the documents to the National Police.

"I am questioning the president's commitment to resolve this case," Akbar said. "The mandate was that we would hand the documents over to the president and he would then distribute them to the relevant institutions."

He said he was less than optimistic about a resolution of the case given the current political map and the stronger coalition in support of the ruling Democratic Party. He said many institutions were not cooperative, and there had been political maneuvers to hinder the investigation.

Pramono Anung, a House deputy speaker from the PDI-P, urged the National Police to take concrete action soon on the House recommendations on the bailout probe.

He said there should be a clearer division of tasks among the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the National Police and the Attorney General's Office. He also said that next week the monitoring team would invite all three institutions to sit down together to discuss the case.

After the meeting, Bambang said getting the documents was only a matter of time. "It's still being processed with the relevant institutions, including Bank Indonesia, the Supreme Audit Agency [BPK] and the KPK."