Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Seventy-three legislators from seven parties in the House of Representatives have signed a petition requesting the establishment of an inquiry committee to probe the Bank Century bailout scandal.
Gayus Lumbuun, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that apart from members from his own party, legislators from the Golkar Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), United Development Party (PPP), Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), People's Conscience Party (Hanura), and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) had also signed the petition.
"Legislators that have signed the petition include M. Hutabarat from Gerindra, Syarifuddin Suding from Hanura, Azis Syamsuddin and Chaeruman Harahap from Golkar, Buchori from the PKS and Effendi Choirie from the PKB," Gayus, one of the sponsors of the petition, said.
Article 177 of the People's Consultative Assembly, House of Representatives, Regional Representatives Council, and Regional Legislative Council Law stipulates that an inquiry committee can be established after it has received official endorsement from 25 legislators from at least two different parties.
Legislators from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the National Awakening Party (PAN) have yet to sign the petition.
Gayus said the committee, once established, would summon individuals who may be able to clarify and help account for the debacle, including former Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, now Vice President, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
"We will submit this petition to the speaker of the House as soon as possible, and hopefully we are going to be able to discuss it at the consultative body next week," he said.
If the consultative body, a cross-party forum discussing key decisions, approves the petition, a team will then be established to start probing the scandal.
The Bank Century scandal came to public attention after House legislators from the previous term summoned the government over the lack of transparency in disclosing the cost of the bailout that salvaged the bank from bankruptcy.
The government had said saving Bank Century was vital, because its collapse could have adversely affected the banking system.
Analysts, however, suspected that the bailout was granted not out of a desire to protect the banking sector, but as part of a scheme to rescue the investments of high-profile and politically wired depositors.
Gayus, a legislator during the previous term, said the House only approved a bailout of Rp 1.3 trillion (US$139.1 million) to save the bank. "It was then revealed that the true cost rose to Rp 6.7 trillion," he said.
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) is now preparing its report on Bank Century, and has announced that it would be published by December.