The Bank Century case has rarely been raised of late since it was left by the House to the government to settle in March last year. It came up to the surface as the cabinet reshuffle issue is also coming up to the surface.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said this week that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would definitely consider the representation of political parties in his cabinet if he would have to reshuffle it.
It is not clear whether or not the Century issue is linked to it. But now several law makers urged the government to settle the Bank Century scandal. Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Secretary General Anis Matta asked the government on Friday to focus on settling the Bank Century case as mandated by the House of Representatives (DPR).
"The House members are disappointed by the government which had not adopted a firm attitude in settling the Bank Century case based on its mandate. That is why, legislators submitted a judicial review to the Constitutional Court (MK) of the law on legislator`s rights to express opinions," Matta said on Friday.
An article of the law was viewed to hamper the lawmakers to play their questioning right as it needs a higher quorum for the approval of their proposal.
The request for a legal review concerned article 184 of Law No. 27/2009 that stipulates that legislators could use their rights to express opinions if approved by three-fourth the House members.
On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court issued a ruling that ran in favor of the lawmakers` request, which asked the court to lower the minimum requirement needed for lawmakers to use the questioning right on the government over a case.
Yet, Anis Matta said that the government should not necessarily worry about the MK decision, but it should settle the Century case so that there would be no impeachment.
"So, the government should settle the problem fairly and completely. The House will only monitor its legal handling," he said.
However, if the government failed to solve the Century scandal, the lawmakers might go ahead to play their questioning rights. They may use their right to express their opinion based on the law if law enforcers do not settle the Bank Century case completely.
"I would like to remind (the government) that if in the coming few months the law enforcers make no progress in the Bank Century case, the DPR, I am afraid, will use its right to express opinions," Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said.
The use of the DPR right to express an opinion could actually lead to the impeachment of the president.
The DPR itself has set up a monitoring team to monitor the legal process of the Bank Century scandal.
Prio said that the DPR`s Monitoring Team felt that the three law enforcing agencies had not yet handled the Bank Century case maximally.
The three law enforcers are the police, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the prosecutor`s office. So far, the DPR had left the case to the government to be investigated or settled based on the law. He said that he was reminding legal enforcers to carry out their task as well as possible.
Priyo who is an associate chairman of the Golkar Party said that the investigation into the case which caused a loss of Rp6.7 trillion to the state had not yet made any progress.
Most of the DPR members have been frustrated by the way the three law enforcing agencies in handling the Bank Century case. "I am afraid that there would be no way other than using the rights to express opinions," Priyo said.
As it was known that the plenary session of the House of Representatives had taken a decision last March regarding the results of the Bank Century Inquiry Committee.
In the plenary session, most of the DPR members chose Option C in a voting mechanism over the conclusion of the House`s Inquiry Committee on the Bank Century case.
Option C, which were voted by 325 legislators of the 537 lawmakers attending the plenary, specified that the bailout of Bank Century was problematic. Option A, which was voted by 212 members, said the bailout was not problematic.
The results of the voting indicated that most of the House members were of the view that the government`s policy to bailout Bank Century with a fund of Rp6.7 trillion violated the law in a number of cases.
The case begain in late 2008 when Bank Century during the crisis faced liquidity and default problems. It collapsed after its liquidity assets amounting to about Rp11.6 trillion were withdrawn, through its security firm Antaboga Delta Sekuritas, and stashed abroad by its owner Robert Tantular.
The ailing bank was than taken over by the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS). The government later provided it with a bailout of Rp6.7 trillion through the issuance of a Short-Term Funding Facility (FPJP) and Temporary Capital Participation (PMS).
The amount provided was far higher than the Rp1.3 trillion then discussed with the House of Representatives (DPR). Thus, the bailout sparked public criticism and questions as it was disbursed without approval of the House of Representatives (DPR).
The House of Representatives later set up an inquiry committee to look into possible violations in the provision of the bailout.
At the end of their inquiry in at plenary session, seven of the nine factions of the House in the committee, mentioned that violations had been committed with regard to the issuance of the Short-Term Funding Facility (FPJP) and Temporary Capital Participation (PMS). (*)
Reporter: By Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
