Andreas D. Arditya, Jakarta – One former and two active lawmakers were grilled Tuesday by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for their alleged roles in a scandal involving the central bank in 2003, while another ex-legislator failed to show up.
The three, all from the Golkar Party, included Baharuddin Aritonang, a former member of the House of Representatives' Commission IX on financial and banking affairs, who is currently a senior official at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).
The other two were Tengku Nurlif and Ahmad Hafiz Zawawi, both serving lawmakers, while another former Golkar legislator, Abdullah Zaini, who is now deputy BPK head, defied the summons from the anti-graft body. No reason was given for Abdullah's absence.
The four were among 52 former members of Commission IX alleged to have received part of some Rp 100 billion "illegally" disbursed from Bank Indonesia in 2003, when the House was deliberating an amendment of the BI law.
Baharuddin insisted he knew nothing about the case. "I was not involved in any program or activity related to the bank or its law. I was not actively involved in Commission IX," he said after being questioned at the KPK office.
But Baharuddin refused to confirm or deny he had accepted any money from the embezzled funds while serving in the commission. "That's out of the context. I refuse to comment on that. What was being asked by the KPK was about the BI disbursement," he said.
The KPK alleges BI governors at the time misappropriated the money and disbursed it to lawmakers in the commission and former BI officials implicated in the BI liquidity funds (BLBI) loan scandal.
Former BI communications head Rusli Simanjuntak is accused of being behind the distribution of a total of Rp 31.5 billion to two former House Commission IX members, Hamka Yandhu and Antony Zeidra Abidin, who were both named suspects in the case.
Last week, Hamka testified before the Corruption Court that all 52 members of the commission accepted at least Rp 250 million each. Hamka added he had distributed the money to the members in person.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said his office had previously questioned a number of former Commission IX lawmakers implicated in the case.
He could not say if the KPK would summon all 52 lawmakers in question. "It depends on the course of the investigation. If we find it necessary to question them all, we will do so," he told The Jakarta Post.
As of last month, the KPK has confiscated a total of Rp 5 billion from former members of the commission.
The KPK had previously questioned Baharuddin several times. On Monday he was reportedly asked by the anti-graft body whether he wanted to change his statements and to return the BI money he had received. "I never received the money, what should I return?" he said.
State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta and Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Ka'ban have also been linked to the embezzlement case.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decided Monday to retain the two ministers despite mounting calls for him to fire them for their "poor track records".