INVESTIGATION NOT FOCUSED ON BANK CENTURY CASE

By Andi Abdusslam

Jakarta, Nov 23 (ANTARA) - The State Audit Board (BPK) handed over the results of its audit on the Bank Century case to the House on Monday but observers said it was not much focused on the flows of the much criticized bailout funds amounting to Rp6.7 trillion.

        "Actually, the public is waiting for the exposure of the fund flows," economic observer Fadhil Hasan said.

        The observer commented on the BPK report on its investigation into the Bank Century case, which according to its chairman Hadi Poernomo, had involved violations and efforts to engineer the disbursement of Rp6.7 trillion bailout to the ailing bank.

        The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said the investigative audit by BPK on Bank Century must be able to expose the flows of funds and the parties who benefited from the banking scandal.

        ICW Coordinator Danang Widoyoko said in a press statement on Monday that the interim report of BPK on September 26, 2009 had raised public concern because it seemed that the BPK investigation did not focus on indications of corruption as requested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

        He said that the preliminary report only talked much about efforts to salvage Bank Century, namely something behind the disbursement of the bailout funds amounting to Rp6.7 trillion through the Short-Term Funding Facility (FPJP).

        Bank Century was taken over by the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS) late last year after it was facing liquidity and default problems. The government later provided it with a bailout of Rp6.7 trillion, far higher than the Rp1.3 trillion discussed with the House.

        The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has asked BPK to audit the bank case to make sure no irregularities had been involved in it.

        BPK chairman Hadi Poernomo, after handing over to the House his audit report on Monday explained that there were alleged violations with the Bank Century case. He said that the violations concerned with the bank's merger process and Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) supervision.

        He said that violations also included the granting of the Short-Term Funding Facility (FPJP) funds, the naming of Bank Century as a failed bank that could cause a system impact, the use of FPJP funds and the injection of interim capital (bailout) as well as unsound practices in the bank's management.

        According to the investigative audit, there was a suspected effort to engineer the raising of the bailout amount, which was initially estimated at between Rp632 billion and Rp1.3 trillion to Rp6.7 trillion.

        "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 the LPS regulation No. 3/PLPS/2008," Hadi Poernomo said after handing over the BPK audit report on Bank Century to House Speaker Marzuki Alie here on Monday.

        Based on the BPK audit, additional bailout funds for Bank Century have been engineered so that the bank would get injection not only to meet its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) requirement but also its need for increased liquidity.

        The BPK also found that Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) and the Financial System Stability Committee (KKSK) did not apply measured criteria in concluding that if Bank Century was allowed to collapse, it would have a systemic impact on the banking world.

        Poernomo said that Bank Century was taken over by the LPS only based on Government Regulation in lieu of Law No.4/2008, and without comprehensive, measured and latest data on the bank's condition.

        Likewise, KKSK's decision that Bank Century had become a failed bank where it did not mention the costs the LPS had to incur, also violated LPS Regulation No. 5/LPS/2006, he said.

        After all, Hadi Poernomo said, the Rp5.86 trillion loss suffered by Bank Century was a loss which emerged as a result of unsound practices and violations committed by the bank's executives and other parties.

        "The bailout provided by LPS to cover the loss suffered by Bank Century is actually state money," the BPK chairman said.

        In spite of this,Fadhil Hasan said that the BPK investigative audit on Bank Century was not much focused on the flows of the bailout funds. The BPK audit was not able to expose Bank Century's fund flows because it was not allowed the Financial Transaction Analysis and Report Center (PPATK) to trace them.

        Yet, he said, the result of the BPK audit had indicated that BI and by the Financial Sector Policy Committee (KKSK) had taken less appropriate decisions in bailing out Bank Century.

        According to Hadi Poernomo, BPK has virtually touched on the flows of the funds but not all of the fund flows could be traced because data about them were restricted. "We cannot expose the flows of the funds because based on Article 26 of Law on Financial Transaction Analysis and Report Center (PPATK) only the police and public prosecutors are allowed to investigate flows of funds," the BPK chairman said.

        Therefore, according to Fadhil Hasan, the House should follow up the Bank Century case with an inquiry.

        "The public is waiting for the exposure of the fund flows," he said. To solve the problem, Fadhil hoped that the House would approve the initiative of a group of legislators to conduct a House inquiry on the alleged bank scandal.

        "The House inquiry should be continued to trace the flows of the funds so that rumors would not emerge and spill over to everywhere," he said. ***4*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/A/S012) 21:15/..... ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/S012) 23-11-2009 21:43:15