Camelia Pasandaran, Febriamy Hutapea & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Party lines, and interests, have been drawn as a House plenary session opens today to investigate the government's controversial bailout of PT Bank Century, a day after the Democratic Party officially signed the House of Representatives' motion to investigate the case.
Strongly denied allegations that some of the bailout money was channeled to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election campaign and calls to fire Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono did not deter all 144 Democratic lawmakers from signing the motion calling for an exhaustive investigation into the Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) bailout, Anas Urbaningrum, chairman of the House's Democratic faction, said on Monday.
The Democratic Party's decision comes amid warnings from antigraft watchdogs that investigations must focus on how the failing bank's management and majority controlling shareholders – jailed bank owner Robert Tantular and foreign nationals Rafat Ali Rivsi and Hesham Al Warraq – were reportedly able to make away with more than Rp 5 trillion of the total bailout money.
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) released a damning report last week that said as much as 40 percent of the Rp 6.7 trillion used to bail out Bank Century beginning in November 2008 was effectively illegal, and cited other serious wrongdoings that should be investigated by law enforcement agencies.
A coalition of lawmakers who initiated the motion for the House to investigate the bailout vowed to probe allegations that some of the money had reached the pockets of state officials close to Yudhoyono.
"We've heard about the names and institutions. We will summon the related officials," said Mukhamad Misbakhun, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Back-room deals continued on Monday as lawmakers reportedly began pushing their political agendas linked to the probe. Rumors are circulating that some parties in Yudhoyono's ruling coalition will use the probe to try and push out Boediono so they can get their own person into the vice presidency.
Boediono is the former central bank governor who pushed for the Bank Century bailout despite opposition from the Capital Market and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK) and the Ministry of Finance.
The government's coalition of parties includes the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Prosperous Justice Party. PAN's Amien Rais has also called for the resignation of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani.
Ikhsan Modjo, from the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance, said the Democrats were in a defensive position. "They signed on to defend or protect their position. That, I'm afraid, will open the door to political bargaining," Ikhsan said.
Burhanuddin Muhtadi, from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), said lawmakers would not directly target Yudhoyono because most of the House factions have members in the cabinet. "However, many elite figures are pressuring the government, including those with their respective political interests," Burhanuddin said.
A number of public figures, including former Finance Minister Kwik Kian Gie, former Economics Minister Rizal Ramli, former Army chief Tyasno Sudarso and the chairman of the 28-million-strong Muhammadiyah Muslim organization, Din Syamsuddin, spoke out about the probe on Monday.
Raden Pardede, secretary of the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK), and the governor of the National Resilience Institute, Muladi, defended Boediono and Sri Mulyani – both of whom sat on the KSSK to decide Bank Century's fate – for authorizing the bailout.
"We were in the midst of a global financial crisis. As long as there was no manipulation or cheating, it was at their discretion to sanction the bailout," Muladi said. "This should be completely separated from allegations of fraud or embezzlement that could have occurred once the money was disbursed."
He added that he had no doubts about the integrity of both Boediono and Sri Mulyani.
Raden said people must consider how dire the country's economic conditions were at the time the bailout was sanctioned. "If it wasn't Century but some other middle-sized bank, I'm sure the same decision would have been taken," he said.