Indonesia lawmakers back criminal probe on bailout
By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press
Mar 3, 2010 10:42 PM CST
Police officers pull protesters to remove them from the main gate of the parliament building during an anti government protest in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Protesters hurled rocks at police who returned fire with tear gas canisters and water cannons outside the national parliament...   (Associated Press)

Indonesian's parliament called for a criminal investigation into a $715 million government bank bailout in a vote that a newspaper described Thursday as a major blow to President Suslio Bambang Yudhoyono.

Indonesia's independent anti-corruption commission already has been looking into the November 2008 bailout of Bank Century, so the parliamentary vote late Wednesday was a largely symbolic gesture on an issue that has dominated the country's politics in recent months. Still, the move could undermine Yudhoyono's governing coalition.

The Jakarta Post newspaper described the vote "as a major blow" to Yudhoyono, adding it was "a resounding vote of no confidence in the government's decision to bail out Bank Century."

Yudhoyono, who was elected in July last year for a second five-year term as president, will respond to the parliament's decision in a televised speech to the nation late Thursday.

A parliamentary inquiry was launched last November after Indonesia's main audit agency alleged irregularities in the bailout.

Government ministers with closest involvement in the bailout are key Yudhoyono allies: Vice President Boediono, a former central bank governor who goes by a single name, and Finance Minister Sri Mulayani Indrawati. All three have denied any wrongdoing.

Following a parliamentary committee investigation of corruption allegations arising from the transaction, 325 legislators in the 560-seat House of Representatives voted for a criminal probe. Another 212, mostly from Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, argued the bailout had necessarily prevented a systemic meltdown of the country's financial system amid the global economic crisis.

The parliamentary motion that passed said the bailout was "against the law or an abuse of power by monetary authority officials ... which could be classified as corruption crime."

National police spokesman Maj. Gen. Edward Aritonang said police would follow the recommendations and launch an investigation.

Yudhoyono's "fierce lobbying" had achieved an important point because neither Boediono nor Indrawati was named in the motion, the Jakarta Globe newspaper said Thursday.

Boediono declined to answer questions about the vote, but told reporters, "In every age, God has always sided with the truth."

Syamsuddin Haris, a political analyst with Indonesian Science Institute, said the vote would not necessarily force Boediono and Indrawati to resign, and have little impact on Yudhoyono's Cabinet.

Greg Fealy, an Australian National University expert on Indonesia politics, said the vote did not threaten Yudhoyono's job, but it could cost Boediono his Cabinet post.

"It will create continuing political problems for Yudhoyono within his coalition and I don't think he or his party have handled those at all well," Fealy said.

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