Febriamy Hutapea – Indonesia's House of Representatives special committee investigating the Bank Century scandal has claimed the country's money-laundering watchdog is hindering attempts to unravel the money trail because of its failure to provide specific details about suspicious transactions.
The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) officials on Tuesday made a second appearance before the committee, which has indicated the massive bailout was tainted by corruption but has so far failed to find out what happened to the Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) injected into the ailing bank by the government.
During its first appearance, PPATK officials were ordered to trace suspicious transfers of funds from and into the bank before and after the bailout.
"We are disappointed with the PPATK data," lawmaker Akbar Faizal from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) said on Tuesday. "Our time is limited and we were hoping that a great deal of suspicious data could be supplied to us. "
Idrus Marham of the Golkar Party, the committee chairman, said the information provided by the agency failed to shed any light on the investigation. "[Their data] needs to be clear so that we can identify suspicious transactions," he said.
The committee deemed the information provided as too general, and that it had not focused on the tracing the 184 alleged irregular transactions uncovered by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) in its original report that found signs of wrongdoing.
PPATK Chairman Yunus Husein replied by acknowledging the lack of detailed information about suspicious transactions. "We need specific information and a time period," Yunus said, adding that the PPATK "also had limitations."
His comments prompted a flood of lawmakers to provide Yunus with more detailed information, which he promised to investigate and present at a closed-door committee session, which is in line with laws governing disclosure of confidential banking information.
Yunus did state, however, that none of the bailout money was embezzled by a "certain political party," as claimed by the People's Democratic Defense (Bendera).
Bendera, a fringe nationalist group allegedly linked to opposition political parties, has claimed that at least part of the bailout money was funneled into President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election campaign, his Democratic Party, members of his inner circle and to various state agencies.
Lawmaker Hendrawan Supratikno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said he wanted to know how the account of businessman Budi Sampoerna, Century's biggest depositor, increased from Rp 734 billion to Rp 1.77 trillion around December 2008, a month after the bailout.
He asked the PPATK to supply more data on transactions involving large amounts of money carried out over a short period around the time of the bailout.
Hendrawan also questioned the role of Arif Surowijaya and suggested a possible conflict of interest. Arif served as a consultant for the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK), which approved the bailout, but he also had a close relationship with the Sampoerna Group.
According to Hendrawan, Arief was an adviser for the Sampoerna Foundation and an independent commissioner of PT Sampoerna Agro, owned by Michael Yusuf Sampoerna, the nephew of Budi Sampoerna. "This strongly indicates the bailout was conducted to save big [Century] depositors," Hendrawan said.
He said that the House also wanted to know the profiles of the 11 depositors who, according to BPK, were covered by the bailout money. "Those questions need to be answered. We want the PPATK to be more focused on placing their findings as a starting point for the investigation," Hendrawan said.