JAKARTA -- Aburizal Bakrie, a leading Indonesian politician, said the nation's vice president and finance minister should be suspended from duty if needed to give them time to participate in a special inquiry into a $700 million bank bailout last year.
"If (the suspension) is needed, then why not," Mr. Bakrie, chairman of the Golkar Party, which is leading the investigation, told state news agency Antara.
Indonesian Vice President Boediono (pictured) and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati deny any wrongdoing in the bailout of Bank Century, but say they are willing to cooperate with the investigation.
He questioned whether the officials would have sufficient time to answer the questions of the special parliamentary committee while performing their jobs, Antara said. A spokesman for Mr. Bakrie confirmed the comments. The investigation began Dec. 1 and is expected to last two months.
Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati have been the subjects in recent weeks of a parliamentary investigation into the bailout of Bank Century in November 2008. Ms. Sri Mulyani oversaw the bailout as finance minister; Mr. Boediono was head of the central bank at the time.
Backers of the probe, led by the Golkar Party, say the bailout was done without legal authority. Ms. Sri Mulyani and Mr. Boediono say the bailout was legal and necessary to stop a run on other banks at the time of global financial weakness. Both deny any wrongdoing but say they are willing to cooperate with the investigation.
Fighting Corruption in Indonesia
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Scores of students, including this one, armed with rocks and wooden planks clashed with anti-riot police and vandalized commercial buildings at a rally in Makassar, the South Sulawesi provincial capital, 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta.
A spokesman for Mr. Boediono, who was elected as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's running mate earlier this year, said Mr. Boediono had no intention of stepping down as there was no evidence of wrongdoing in the bailout.
"We are concerned that any monetary and economic policy decision-making is now being used by the opposition to make baseless accusations of corrupt actions," said the spokesman, Yopie Hidayat. Ms. Sri Mulyani has also said she has no intention of stepping aside.
Other senior government officials involved in the bailout say the probe was legal and needed to restore confidence among depositors.
This was the first time Mr. Bakrie, one of the nation's most powerful politicians and wealthiest businessmen, has suggested the pair may need to step down during the probe, although other Golkar Party members have been calling for their suspension.
Mr. Bakrie's comments came after Ms. Sri Mulyani said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Mr. Bakrie and the Golkar Party are using the probe to try to unseat her because they don't agree with reforms she has pushed through aimed at rooting out corruption.
A Golkar Party leader behind the probe said Ms. Sri Mulyani wasn't being targeted.
Ms. Sri Mulyani also said relations between herself and Mr. Bakrie have deteriorated in recent years. Mr. Bakrie denied there are any tensions between them.
Write to Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com
Source: The Wall Street Journal | Wed, 12/09/2009 by:Tom Wright
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