Jakarta – A civil society organization comprising mainly lawyers filed a lawsuit against House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto on Wednesday, saying that Setya still had questions to answer over his role in a botched bank bailout which occurred during the fall of former president Suharto.
"We will file the lawsuit today," coordinator of the Indonesian Democratic Defenders Team (TPDI) Petrus Salentinus said, as quoted by Tempo.co on Wednesday,
The suit was backed by another alliance of attorneys known as Advocacy Forum to Protect the Constitution as well as 20 independent lawyers. It alleges that Setya was involved in a botched liquidity facility made available to Bank Bali, which caused state losses of Rp 546 billion at the time. Setya is alleged to have received the Rp 546 billion as commission for assuming the debt.
When the case was brought to court in 2000 prosecutors claimed that the disbursement of the loan happened after a meeting between former Bank Indonesia governor Syahril Sabirin together with Setya and others. Syahril was convicted by the Central Jakarta District Court and sentenced to three years in jail.
Emerson Junto of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) recently told Indonesian news newspaper Kompas that prosecutors had not properly investigated Setya since placing a short-term travel ban on him in August 1999.