Jakarta, Dec 1 (ANTARA) - A special committee to investigate the Bank Century case will be officially formed later this week after the House of Representatives (DPR) at a plenary session on Tuesday approved a legislators' motion to use their right of inquiry on the ailing bank's bailout with Rp6.7 trillion.
"The House will set up the special inquiry committee on Friday (Dec. 4, 2009). It will be composed of 30 House members from various party factions," House Speaker Marzuki Alie said on Tuesday.
The House speaker said he hoped all House factions would have submitted the names of their representatives for the inquiry committee before December 4.
The composition of the 30-member inquiry committee would be based on the proportionality principle with the number of faction representatives in the committee to be determined in accordance with the size of the factions concerned.
The event marks the first time for the House of the 2009-2014 period to exercise its right of inquiry. The House of the 2004-2009 period used this right several times on different issues but the proposal for an inquiry into the Bank Century case now was supported by a record number of legislators - 503 out of the House's 560 members.
Initially, the number of lawmakers supporting the initiative was only between 200 and 300, but after the ruling Democrat Party expressed its support for the proposal, the number of supporters rose to over 500.
With the overwhelming support, deliberations on using the House's right of inquiry on the Bank Century case at Tuesday's House plenary session proceeded smoothly and at 11.25 am, the session's chair officially declared the proposal approved.
Based on the proportionality principle, the Democrat Party (PD) would amongst others be represented in the committee by eight cadres, Golkar by six cadres, the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDIP) by five, the National Mandate Party and Prosperous Justice Party by three cadres each, the United Development Party (PPP) and National Awakening Party (PKB) by one cadre each.
The House will form the inquiry committee after hearing a report by the State Audit Board (BPK) on its investigative audit of Bank Century which indicated a suspected effort to engineer additional bailout funds (PMS) for the bank.
"The Rp6.7 trillion bailout funds were disbursed in four stages. But the disbursement of the second phase worth Rp2.2 trillion was done without consultations with the Coordination Committee (KK). This was against LPS Regulation No. 3/PLPS/2008," Hadi Poernomo said after handing over the BPK audit report on Bank Century to House Speaker Marzuki Alie last month.
Bank Century almost collapsed some time ago when its assets were flown overseas by major share-holder Robert Tantular. In order to help the ailing bank, the government provided it with bailout funds amounting to Rp6.7 trillion without the approval of the House of Representatives (DPR).
In order to carry out its inquiry, the special committee is expected to examine the flow of the bailout funds through the Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK).
In this case, the PPATK has asked for a legal guarantee so that in providing the formation needed it would not breach any law. "We need a strong and clear legal basis in providing such information," PPATK Chief Yunus Husein said here on Tuesday.
He said in providing information needed for the implementation of a House inquiry into the Bank Cenutry bailout, he had never received any pressure from any body or any party.
This does not means that the agency will be hampering the investigation. PPATK has demonstrated that it fully supported the auditing of Bank Century case by the State Audit Board (BPK) and provided with the information from the beginning.
Therefore, PPATK also supported the inquiry by the House of Representatives (DPR) based on the regulations in force. Husein however denied reports that the bailout funds for Bank Century had been flown to certain individuals and institutions.
PPATK has no such information and has never provided information about funds flows to any one. Husein said that the people should understand that information owned by PPTAK was confidential in nature based on articles 10A and 17A of Law No. 25 / 2003 on Money Laundering.
In the meantime, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) has called for the settlement of the Bank Century bailout case in court to prevent it from dragging on indefinitely.
YLBHI board chairman Patra M Zen said by settling the Bank Century case in court, many problems in the country would be solved, and there would be an indicator of the success of the law enforcement, auditing and supervisory agencies in investigating financial transactions.
In addition, completing the case in court would also be a test for the government's commitment to upholding the truth and meeting the public's sense of justice, M Zen said.
"If this case is allowed to drag on, people's suspicions would only grow and public trust in the commitment of the SBY-Boediono government would drop. The market is also very sensitive to the Bank Century case and therefore it is hoped the matter will be solved soon," he said.
On Tuesday, as the House was holding a plenary to decide whether it would approve the legislators' motion or not, students grouped in the Indonesian Islamic Students Association (HMI) of Subang in West Java urged the House to expedite the establishment of a House special inquiry committee to probe Bank Century.
"The committee must be composed of legislators who have good integrity and capacity to expose the Bank Century case," field coordinator of the rally Bani Nur said.***1*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/A/S012) 20:04/.... )
(T.A014/A/A014/A/S012) 01-12-2009 20:41:39
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