Dion Bisarap, Jakarta – The government plans to hire independent auditors to conduct a forensic investigation into the 2008 Bank Century bailout scandal in order to finally put the issue to rest.

It is hoped that the audit, expected to cost up to $10 million, will resolve the faceoff between the government and the House of Representatives over the Rp 6.7 trillion ($744 million) bailout that led to a special parliamentary investigation.

The House of Representatives in March this year found the bailout to be a legal violation tainted with corruption. Although not legally binding, recommendations from lawmakers included further investigations into the case by law enforcement agencies, to be monitored by a team set up by the House.

The government, for its part, set up a special investigation team involving the Law and Human Rights Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the police, the Attorney General's Office and the Deposit Insurance Agency.

"The forensic audit is a comprehensive audit of the Bank Century case," Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said in a meeting with the House's Bank Century case monitoring team. The audit will be carried out by an independent auditor with funding coming from the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS).

"We are preparing the tender," said Firdaus Djaelani, the agency's chief executive, adding that the exercise could cost taxpayers between $2 million and $10 million, depending on the scale of the investigation.

In 1999, a similar audit over the Bank Bali bailout scandal was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, who found the misappropriation of funds to have serious political and legal implications.

The audit's findings implicated then Bank Indonesia governor Syahril Sabirin, who was sentenced to a two-year jail term, causing complications for President B.J. Habibie's re-election campaign.

"The forensic audit over Bank Bali was highly successful. We want this audit to be the same. So we will select the auditor carefully in order to get a good result," Agus said.

Bambang Soesatyo, Golkar party legislator and member of the House's monitoring team, welcomed the move, noting that the forensic audit will be focused on tracking the Rp 6.7 trillion of bailout money.

"The Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK's) report has indicated criminal acts in the bailout and we want this forensic audit to find proof of that," he said.

The BPK said in a report released in Nov. 2009 that as much as 40 percent of the Rp 6.7 trillion used to bail out the former Bank Century was effectively illegal, and cited other serious wrongdoings that needed to be investigated by law enforcement agencies.

However, Yanuar Rizki, an independent financial and market analyst, doubts the move will be effective in uncovering the truth behind the Bank Century case. "This is like running around in circles. We already have the BPK's report, how could it differ from that?" he asked.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers from the monitoring team have called on the government to pay back the money Bank Century clients put into what turned out to be a bogus investment scheme.

[Additional Reporting by Markus Junianto Sihaloho.]