Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – A group of 55 lawmakers filed an official petition Thursday for the House of Representatives to investigate the government's failure to recover trillions of rupiah from state debtors.
The formal request was submitted through House Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar who said the legislature would arrange a schedule for a plenary session to decide whether or not to accept it.
Support for the demand came from lawmakers from all 11 factions in the House except for those from the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS). The National Mandate Party (PAN) topped support for the proposed inquiry, with 30 of its lawmakers signing the petition.
Among the signatories were Drajad Wibowo of the PAN, Ade Daud Nasution of the Reform Star Party (PBR), Suripto of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Abdullah Azwar Anas of the National Awakening Party (PKB). Ade Daud said the signatories included five lawmakers from Golkar Party and one from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
"The five from Golkar include Mahardi Sinambela, Bomer Pasaribu and Yudi Krisnandi, while the only one from PDI-P was Suparlan," he said. The petitioners said the proposed inquiry into the embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance (BLBI) funds was not an attempt to impeach President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"We are not expecting to impeach the President through the inquiry, but we want debtors to face responsibility for the BLBI funds," Dradjad said.
He said the government had to set aside Rp 65 trillion a year to pay the interest rate on BLBI funds, or seven times as much as the subsidies allocated for food products. Abdullah Azwar said the inquiry was targeting defiant debtors and was not meant to oust the President.
The government disbursed Rp 144.5 trillion (US$15.4 billion) to help 14 ailing banks stay afloat during the 1997-1998 Asian monetary crisis through BLBI funds. However, many debtors abused the liquidity support and took the money for themselves.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said out of Rp 129 trillion in outstanding state money, dispersed across 41 debtors, the government had only managed to recover some Rp 35 trillion worth of assets – a recovery rate of 27.13 percent.
Ade Daud said the lawmakers chose to file the petition because the government had turned a blind eye on fraudulent BLBI debtors. He said there was a sense of corruption behind their lack of responsibility toward the scandal.
Early this month the Attorney General's Office dropped BLBI cases against tycoons Anthony Salim and Sjamsul Nursalim, citing a lack of evidence. Two days later, senior AGO prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan was caught by the Corruption Eradication Commission allegedly receiving $660,000 from businesswoman Artalita Suryani, who has been linked to Nursalim.
Suripto said the arrest of Urip and Artalita should see the House push for an inquiry into the BLBI scandal after a questioning session last month failed to produce a satisfying result.
"We want to have a thorough investigation into the BLBI fraud case," Suripto said. "All parties alleged to have been involved in the crime, including the President himself if necessary, must be questioned," he said.