Nivell Rayda, Nurfika Osman & Heru Andriyanto – The Corruption Eradication Commission and the National Police said on Wednesday they would not limit their investigations of the PT Bank Century bailout to officials named by the House special committee investigating the controversial case.
On Tuesday night, four of the nine factions on the special committee named Vice President Boediono, who was central bank governor at the time of the 2008 decision to save the lender, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as being responsible for the "illegal" bailout.
The four to name the two officials were opposition parties the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura). Gokar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), both members of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat-led ruling coalition, also named the pair.
"We will not narrow our [graft] investigation to target those two figures," Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy Haryono Umar said.
He said the KPK was investigating nine indications of corruption in the bailout, beginning with the formation of the failed bank to the alleged misappropriation of bailout funds.
"We have obtained information from the special committee. But first we will examine the committee's information and compare that with the results of our investigation," Haryono said.
He added that the KPK was coordinating its investigation with the Attorney General's Office as well as the National Police.
The three institutions have agreed that the KPK will investigate possible corruption by senior public officials, while the AGO will handle corruption involving low-ranking public officials and non-public officials. The National Police will investigate allegations of money laundering and related banking crimes.
National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi agreed the investigation would not be limited to Boediono and Sri Mulyani.
"The way we handle the Century bailout case is different from the House special committee," Ito said. "We have to uphold the presumption of innocence. Thus, we cannot arbitrarily arrest people; we have procedures. For now, we are not going to summon anyone. It would be unfair to punish innocent people. The House special committee can claim anything, but that is not the way we work in the National Police."
The AGO did not comment on the House committee's findings, saying it would wait until lawmakers made a final conclusion in a March 2 plenary session.