Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) should not be the only agency pressured into resolving the long-running Bank Century scandal, a chief justice said on Wednesday.

"The Bank Century case cannot be linked solely to the KPK, as if they're the only ones handling the case," Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD said.

He said other agencies like the National Police and the Attorney General's Office should also be held accountable in cracking a case stemming from the Rp 6.7 trillion ($744 million) bailout scandal in 2008.

Mahfud said the KPK was an independent institution that could not be dictated upon by any party, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "I know that the president is not intervening here," he said.

The chief justice said pressuring law enforcers was acceptable, but the public should not solely blame the KPK, due to the complex nature of the case. "There is the matter of banking crime and money-laundering. Corruption is not the only issue in the scandal," he said.

Bank Century officials were accused of issuing fraudulent loans and misusing clients' money, almost causing the bank's collapse and prompting the government to issue bailout money, which was more than the figure initially agreed in the House of Representatives.

Mahfud's comment came after Golkar Party members questioned the KPK's commitment in dealing with the scandal.

Aburizal Bakrie, the party's chairman, and former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, a senior Golkar member, said the antigraft commission had prioritized a bribery case instead of Bank Century.

The KPK accused 26 former and current House members – 10 of them from the Golkar Party – of accepting bribes in connection with the appointment of a senior central bank executive in 2004.

Bibit Samad Riyanto, deputy chairman of the KPK, had earlier said the 26 allegedly received up to Rp 1.45 billion ($160,000) each to vote for economist Miranda Goeltom as Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor during a House selection process.

"We only want the KPK to clarify its decision, on why it prefers to name suspects in one case, and not in another," said Idrus Marham, secretary general of the Golkar Party.

Bambang Soesatyo, another Golkar lawmaker, said the government had attempted to end investigations into the case. Bambang also said the government's move to bail out the troubled lender was illegal.

A House monitoring team is currently waiting to conduct a joint hearing with law enforcement agencies and examine the available evidence in the Bank Century case.

The KPK, National Police and Attorney General's Office had said they failed to find irregularities in the bailout, even though the House voted in March that the policy had violated the law.

In July, the monitoring team threatened to slash the budget of these agencies if they failed to produce results in line with the lawmakers' stance that the bailout was in violation of the law.

The monitoring team also questioned whether these agencies were working based on its recommendations.

The House session was initially scheduled for Aug. 28, but was delayed because National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri was sick and requested to postpone the hearing.

Mahfudz Siddiq, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party and a coordinator of the monitoring team, said a meeting with law enforcement agencies was expected to take place toward the end of this month.

[Additional reporting from Antara.]