JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla has made his testimony to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Thursday (Nov. 21) about the 6.7 trillion Bank Century (now Bank Mutiara) bailout scandal.
Told to media, Kalla said he wondered why KPK has just summoned him now, while the Bank Century scandal had emerged 5 years ago.
KPK’s Spokesperson Johan Budi Sapto Prabowo earlier said that Kalla will be questioned as witness for Budi Mulya, former Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) and suspect in the case.
KPK is pressured to solve the Bank Century bailout case since 2010 due to slow progress of its investigation. KPK has detained Budi Mulya and examined Lin Che Wei, the advisor to the Sampoerna family. Sampoerna is known as one of the largest depositors in Bank Century.
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).
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).
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)