Democrat lawmaker Sutan Bathoegana, from left,
with National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri,
Attorney General Hendarman Supandji and
Corruption Eradication Commission deputy chairman
Bibit Riyanto after the discussion in the House.
The Corruption Eradication Commission told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that it had not yet found any indications of corruption in the Bank Century bailout, drawing the ire of legislators.
The comment was made during a meeting between the House team monitoring the criminal investigation of the bailout, the antigraft commission, or KPK, the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office.
House Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung, a veteran lawmaker from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and other legislators expressed their disappointment after Muhammad Jasin, a KPK deputy chairman, said no indications of corruption had been found.
Lawmakers said such a “soft stance” on the part of the respected antigraft commission may have been influenced by the legal dilemma in which two KPK deputies, Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto, were mired.
Chandra, however, said the antigraft commission was not under any political pressure. “We guarantee 1,000 percent that our investigation of the Bank Century bailout is legit,” he said.
Jasin said the KPK had questioned 96 witnesses and focused on corruption allegations arising from the injection of short-term liquidity (FPJP) into the bank in the first phase of the bailout.
“We have yet to find any indication of corruption in the use of the FPJP money,” he said.
Attorney General Hendarman Supandji backed up the KPK’s findings, saying his office had not detected any losses to the state as a result of the bailout.
He said that no matter how many times the authorities brought in former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono for questioning, “the results would be the same, because there’s just no evidence pointing to financial losses to the state.”
Pramono, who chaired Wednesday’s hearing, said he was particularly disappointed with the KPK’s claims, citing the commission’s renowned tenacity in pursuing graft probes.
“[It’s disappointing] that the KPK has come up with nothing concrete in this case,” he said. “It’s clear the KPK is under some political pressure.”
Pramono said the House had identified at least 40 irregularities in its inquiry into the bailout, and chided the KPK, AGO and police for not following up on its recommendations.
Several lawmakers, including Fahri Hamzah, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Bambang Soesatyo, from Golkar, and Trimedya Panjaitan, from the PDI-P, questioned whether the KPK’s commitment to getting to the bottom of the case was flagging.
“It was the KPK that first investigated the Bank Century scandal and came up with indications of financial losses to the state,” Trimedya said. “But now there’s been a wavering in the KPK’s approach. It started out strongly, but now it’s wobbly.”
Jasin said the witness testimonies and findings so far should not be extrapolated to draw a final conclusion. He said the probe was ongoing, with 111 officials still being investigated.
Pramono called for the investigations to be wrapped up this year so the House could focus on “asset recovery” next year.
