Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Two former Bank Century officials facing up to 10 years in prison for improper approval of loans claimed on Wednesday that they were being made to take the fall for crimes they did not commit.

Arga Tirta Kirana, former head of the bank's legal division, and Linda Wangsadinata, the former manager of its Senayan branch office, are on trial for the disbursement of credit to shady companies without going through the proper procedures.

Speaking at a hearing before a House of Representatives committee monitoring the criminal probe into the Century bailout, lawyers for the two claimed the case against them was unfair.

Sugianto Sulaiman, the lawyer representing Linda, said he had been told by police officers that there was "a price they must pay for the prosecution."

He said that was likely why the two women faced stiffer punishment that their superiors in the same case or the recipients of the loans.

Sugianto pointed out that Tariq Khan, a Pakistani businessman and owner of four companies that received a combined Rp 360 billion ($40 million) in loans, was sentenced to only eight months in prison.

"Now Tarik has left our beloved country," he said. "And who was the lawyer for his companies? Haposan Hutagalung."

Haposan is the former lawyer of disgraced taxman Gayus Tambunan. He was sentenced last month to seven years in prison for bribing police officers and a judge to help Gayus beat an embezzlement charge.

Haposan was convicted of bribing Susno Duadji, the National Police's chief of detectives at the time, with Rp 500 million to secure preferential treatment for another client, the owner of a fish farm in Riau.

Linda said during Wednesday's House hearing that she and Arga had been forced by Robert Tantular, Bank Century's former owner, and Hermanus Hasan Muslim, its director, to approve all loans.

She added that she had told the court and prosecutors about it, but was ignored. "The prosecutors kept their eyes and ears shut on it," Linda said.

Robert was also personally involved in approving most of the loans valued at more than Rp 3 billion, she continued. "We were only forced to approve it. We never knew who the applicants were and we never met them," she said.

Fahri Hamzah, a member of the House's monitoring team from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said the House recommendation on the bank bailout should be retuned so that low-ranking officials who had committed violations without intending to would not be charged.

"If we don't revise it, we're going to see more mothers like these probed, while the high-ranking officials enjoy protection through this diversion," he said.