"I am a witness in the case of Mr. Budi Mulya," he stated when he arrived at the KPK building here at around 1 p.m.
The KPK had originally planned to question Sofyan on Friday (Jan. 15) but he had not shown up.
Sofyan who was state enterprises minister from 2007 to 2009 stated that he was ad interim finance minister when the government bailed out troubled Bank Century in 2008.
"I was ad-interim finance minister when Bank Century had trouble in clearing payments. Maybe I have been summoned because of that," he pointed out.
Sofyan explained that a number of state-owned banks had put their money in Bank Century.
"So it (the bank) was rescued and the funds were safe. Four or five state firms had time deposits with the bank," he remarked.
But he declined to reveal the details of the state firms.
"If I am not mistaken the money was less than Rp1 trillion. It was about Rp600-700 billion," he confirmed.
According to the State Audit Board (BPK), the granting of short-term assistance (FPJP) facility to Bank Century had resulted in a loss of Rp689.3 billion and the status of the bank was listed as "failed" brought about systemic effects causing the state a loss of Rp6.76 trillion. Overall, the state had suffered Rp7.4 trillion in losses from the case.
The KPK has named Budi Mulya, the former Bank Indonesia deputy for foreign exchange management, as suspect in the case. He has been held in the KPK detention center since November 15 last year.
Budi Mulya is charged with abusing his authority based on article 3 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication.
Besides Budi Mulya, another BI executive considered accountable for extending the loan is Siti Chodijah Fajriah, but investigation has been hampered by the fact that she is too ill to undergo a legal trial.
Bank Century received a bailout of Rp6.7 trillion during the financial crisis of 2008, despite failing to fulfill the requirements for the bailout.
According to the BPK, Bank Indonesia did not take strict action against the bank. Instead, it modified its own regulations to allow the bank to receive the loan. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
