JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detained Budi Mulya, suspect and former Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), after an examination session held Friday (Nov. 15) for the long-delayed Rp6.7 trillion Bank Century bailout scandal.
Today, KPK re-examined Budi Mulya for almost six hours. Budi, actually, had been named as suspect along with Siti CH Fadjrijah, another former Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia, since November 2012.
KPK has been under pressure to solve the Bank Century bailout case since 2010 due to slow progress of its investigation. However, KPK previously on July 2013, promised to bring the long-delayed case to the Corruption Court this year.
The case itself started in 2008 when the Bank Century (now Bank Mutiara), owned by Robert Tantular, suffered a serious liquidity problem and asked for loan to Bank Indonesia. The central bank finally disbursed loan in four stages with total bailout reaching Rp6.7 trillion.
The case implicates high profile names like Sri Mulyani (former Minister of Finance and now Managing Director of World Bank) and Boediono (former Governor of Bank Indonesia and now Vice President of Indonesia). The House, in its recommendation on March 2010, also stated that both Sri Mulyani and Boediono are responsible for the bailout decision as KSSK chairman and KSSK member. Both Sri Mulyani and Boediono have been examined by KPK. Latest, Sri Mulyani was questioned by KPK’s investigators at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC, United States in early May 2013.
Several people, meanwhile, had already been sentenced including Robert Tantular, Hermanus Hasan Muslim (former CEO of Bank Century), Laurencius Kesuma (former CFO of Bank Century), Arga Tirta Kirana (former legal division head of Bank Century), and Linda Wangsa Dinata (former Senayan branch head of Bank Century) with various jail terms.
Unfortunately, businessman Budi Sampoerna, former President Commissioner of HM Sampoerna, who is believed as a key witness in the case, had passed away in Premier Surabaya Hospital, East Java at August 8, 2011 due to a diagnosed cancer. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)