ID :
120617
Fri, 05/07/2010 - 01:11
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https://oananews.org//node/120617
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News Focus: SRI MULYANI FREE TO LEAVE BUT NOT FROM KPK PROBE
By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta, May 6 (ANTARA) - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani who announced her resignation from her cabinet post on Wednesday will not be banned from leaving Indonesia to assume her new post as a World Bank managing director in Washington DC but the antigraft body has also stated its intention to continue questioning her over the Bank Century bailout scandal.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday said that it would not prevent outgoing Finance Minister Sri Mulyani from leaving Indonesia for the United States.
KPK Deputy Chairman Bibit Samad Rianto told reporters here Thursday his office would not request the immigration directorate general of the law and human rights ministry to impose an overseas travel ban on her.
"We do not need to ban her from leaving the country," he said commenting on Sri Mulyani's resignation as finance minister to take the position of managing director at the World Bank in Washington DC starting June 1.
An overseas travel ban on Sri Mulyani was not needed because with her new and respected position, she was believed not to do things that would damage her credibility, he said.
Rianto further said the circumstances of Sri Mulyani's intention to go abroad were also clear enough to the commission.
In connection with the KPK investigation into the Bank Century bailout scandal, KPK investigators had so far quizzed Sri Mulyani twice, namely on April 29 and May 4, 2010.
She was questioned about the troubled bank bailout case in her capacity as the former head of the now-defunct Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK).
In the May 4 questioning session, Sri Mulyani explained about her duties and authority as the former head of KSSK to the anti-corruption commission investigators.
Rianto said Sri Mulyani's new position would not disrupt the KPK probe into the Bank Century case.
"She will still be on earth. We can still find her," he said, adding that KPK investigators had ever quizzed an Indonesian citizen in Washington DC in the past.
Sri Mulyani announced her resignation on Wednesday or a day after the KPK quizzed her over the Bank Century scandal.
On Tuesday, she said the KPK questioning was expected to pave the way for her to get legal certainty.
In response to KPK's stance not to issue a travel ban against Sri Mulyani, Dr Sofyan Siregar, a political analyst who is a roving lecturer at the Islamic University of North Sumatra said Rianto's statement did not make sense as Sri Mulyani who will be in the United States for a certain period of time as of June 1 could no longer be effectively questioned for her alleged involvement in the bailout of failed Bank Century.
"No judicial body in Indonesia will be able to grill Sri Mulyani when she is in the United States," he said.
The KPK had so far not yet named Sri Mulyani a suspect but if it has found enough reason to do so, she would have to be further questioned and even detained. Then the KPK would face the problem of summoning her to Jakarta or sending a team to Washington to question and arrest her.
"This will be a costly affair and one with uncertain results even through in theory the KPK can ask for her explanations anywhere," he said.
Then, when the KPK efforts to question or detain her had run into a snag, her case could in effect be frozen and in the end forgotten, Sofyan said.
Sri Mulyani and former central bank governor who is now Vice President, Boediono, were among those named by several party factions in the House's Bank Century Inquiry Committee as responsible for the Bank Century scandal.
Sri Mulyani is one of those considered responsible for the decision to provide failed Bank Century with bailout funds amounting to Rp6.7 trillion in late 2008.
"The legal process will not look at the position of a person. I am convinced that the law will be enforced and we will continue to support this," Azis Syamsuddin, deputy chairman of House Commission III on legal affairs, said on Wednesday.
He said the Bank Century bailout case which was now under examination process by the KPK must be continued and be finished, even if the finance minister had resigned her ministerial post and assumed a World Bank position.
In the meantime, Petition-28 spokesman Haris Rusly Motti said that the naming of Mulyani as a top official of the World Bank just confirmed the allegation so far that she had been a stooge of the West.
"Sri Mulyani is finally saved by being appointed as a top executive of the World Bank," Motti said. The problem at home is that Mulyani at present is under the investigation of the anti-graft commission over the alleged Bank Century corruption case.
The post that will be taken up by Sri Mulyani is only one level below that of World Bank President now being held by Robert Zoellick.
Political observer Prof. Nurtain of the Padang State University (UNP) said the appointment of Mulyani as an executive director of the World Bank would have a positive impact on Indonesia.
"The appointment of the Indonesian economist will have a positive impact, particularly the image of the Indonesian people in the eyes of the world and this will of course have a positive impact on the country's economy," the UNP lecturer said.
He said that apart from all conflicts and allegations associated with the finance minister, the naming of Sri Mulyani as a World Bank leading executive was a high achievement.
"This means that the world recognizes Indonesia's capabilities and will improve the nation's image," he said.
Jakarta, May 6 (ANTARA) - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani who announced her resignation from her cabinet post on Wednesday will not be banned from leaving Indonesia to assume her new post as a World Bank managing director in Washington DC but the antigraft body has also stated its intention to continue questioning her over the Bank Century bailout scandal.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday said that it would not prevent outgoing Finance Minister Sri Mulyani from leaving Indonesia for the United States.
KPK Deputy Chairman Bibit Samad Rianto told reporters here Thursday his office would not request the immigration directorate general of the law and human rights ministry to impose an overseas travel ban on her.
"We do not need to ban her from leaving the country," he said commenting on Sri Mulyani's resignation as finance minister to take the position of managing director at the World Bank in Washington DC starting June 1.
An overseas travel ban on Sri Mulyani was not needed because with her new and respected position, she was believed not to do things that would damage her credibility, he said.
Rianto further said the circumstances of Sri Mulyani's intention to go abroad were also clear enough to the commission.
In connection with the KPK investigation into the Bank Century bailout scandal, KPK investigators had so far quizzed Sri Mulyani twice, namely on April 29 and May 4, 2010.
She was questioned about the troubled bank bailout case in her capacity as the former head of the now-defunct Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK).
In the May 4 questioning session, Sri Mulyani explained about her duties and authority as the former head of KSSK to the anti-corruption commission investigators.
Rianto said Sri Mulyani's new position would not disrupt the KPK probe into the Bank Century case.
"She will still be on earth. We can still find her," he said, adding that KPK investigators had ever quizzed an Indonesian citizen in Washington DC in the past.
Sri Mulyani announced her resignation on Wednesday or a day after the KPK quizzed her over the Bank Century scandal.
On Tuesday, she said the KPK questioning was expected to pave the way for her to get legal certainty.
In response to KPK's stance not to issue a travel ban against Sri Mulyani, Dr Sofyan Siregar, a political analyst who is a roving lecturer at the Islamic University of North Sumatra said Rianto's statement did not make sense as Sri Mulyani who will be in the United States for a certain period of time as of June 1 could no longer be effectively questioned for her alleged involvement in the bailout of failed Bank Century.
"No judicial body in Indonesia will be able to grill Sri Mulyani when she is in the United States," he said.
The KPK had so far not yet named Sri Mulyani a suspect but if it has found enough reason to do so, she would have to be further questioned and even detained. Then the KPK would face the problem of summoning her to Jakarta or sending a team to Washington to question and arrest her.
"This will be a costly affair and one with uncertain results even through in theory the KPK can ask for her explanations anywhere," he said.
Then, when the KPK efforts to question or detain her had run into a snag, her case could in effect be frozen and in the end forgotten, Sofyan said.
Sri Mulyani and former central bank governor who is now Vice President, Boediono, were among those named by several party factions in the House's Bank Century Inquiry Committee as responsible for the Bank Century scandal.
Sri Mulyani is one of those considered responsible for the decision to provide failed Bank Century with bailout funds amounting to Rp6.7 trillion in late 2008.
"The legal process will not look at the position of a person. I am convinced that the law will be enforced and we will continue to support this," Azis Syamsuddin, deputy chairman of House Commission III on legal affairs, said on Wednesday.
He said the Bank Century bailout case which was now under examination process by the KPK must be continued and be finished, even if the finance minister had resigned her ministerial post and assumed a World Bank position.
In the meantime, Petition-28 spokesman Haris Rusly Motti said that the naming of Mulyani as a top official of the World Bank just confirmed the allegation so far that she had been a stooge of the West.
"Sri Mulyani is finally saved by being appointed as a top executive of the World Bank," Motti said. The problem at home is that Mulyani at present is under the investigation of the anti-graft commission over the alleged Bank Century corruption case.
The post that will be taken up by Sri Mulyani is only one level below that of World Bank President now being held by Robert Zoellick.
Political observer Prof. Nurtain of the Padang State University (UNP) said the appointment of Mulyani as an executive director of the World Bank would have a positive impact on Indonesia.
"The appointment of the Indonesian economist will have a positive impact, particularly the image of the Indonesian people in the eyes of the world and this will of course have a positive impact on the country's economy," the UNP lecturer said.
He said that apart from all conflicts and allegations associated with the finance minister, the naming of Sri Mulyani as a World Bank leading executive was a high achievement.
"This means that the world recognizes Indonesia's capabilities and will improve the nation's image," he said.
