Rizky Amelia & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam on Monday gave the Corruption Eradication Commission the recording of a 2008 meeting at the Presidential Palace allegedly convened to discuss the bailout of Bank Century, angering some lawmakers who felt they too should be privy to the tape's contents.

Dipo handed over the recording of an Oct. 9, 2008, meeting of high-level officials and advised legislators interested in the matter to follow up with the antigraft body known as KPK. "[To] the House of Representatives, please ask the KPK," Dipo said, referring to the contents of the recording.

He said he opted to give the tape to the KPK because he deemed the House to be neither a judicial body nor a law enforcer. Dipo said the recording was given to the KPK in the interest of transparency.

The meeting, attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, then-KPK chief Antasari Azhar and several other top officials, was allegedly held to discuss the 2008 bailout of the troubled bank.

Other officials in attendance included Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) chief Anwar Nasution, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, former National Police chief Hendarso Danuri, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and the state and cabinet secretaries.

Antasari has since denied that the meeting was held to discuss Bank Century, insisting it was instead convened to address the global economic crisis.

The government ultimately committed Rp 6.7 trillion (worth $669.2 million at the time) to prop up the ailing bank and in the years since, many have said that decision and the implementation of the bailout contained irregularities indicative of corruption. The House set up a supervisory committee to look into the irregularities.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the commission would provide the House task force studying the case with the recording, but added that "as to whether there is the possibility of handing it over to the House of Representatives or not, what is certain is that the material is needed by the KPK for its investigation."

He said KPK chairman Abraham Samad and his deputy, Bambang Widjojanto, met with Dipo to receive the recording.

But Bambang Soesatyo, a member of the House's Bank Century supervisory team, expressed anger at Dipo's move, saying it reflected an uncooperative attitude from the Yudhoyono administration vis-a-vis the legislature.

"I do not understand why a number of presidential aides tend to be confrontational with the House of Representatives. They do have to serve the president, but their behavior should not destroy the prevailing order," Bambang said.

Bambang, a member of the Golkar Party, acknowledged that the House lacked any law enforcement mandate. But he added that in the context of their supervisory duties, the working units of the legislature had the right to seek and gather evidence.

"In the Bank Century case, for example, the House can even order the state audit board [BPK] to conduct a forensic audit and demand the results be delivered on time," Bambang said.

He said Dipo might hold a different understanding of the legislature's oversight role.

"It is clear that the first one to ask for the recording of the Oct. 9, 2008 [meeting] was the House supervisory team for the Bank Century legal scandal," he said. "Maybe Dipo does not understand the duties of the House supervisory team."

He said his team was charged with "safeguarding" the ongoing probe and therefore had the right to access to the recording as evidence.