http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/bank-rescue-taints-sbys-re-election-campaign/story-e6frg6so-1225800664486
Bank rescue taints SBY's re-election campaign a.. Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta Correspondent b.. From: The Australian c.. November 21, 2009 12:00AM Corruption scandals are piling up on the President's desk CALLS are mounting for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to prove his re-election campaign did not benefit from the controversial 6.7 trillion rupiah ($786 million) Bank Century bailout between last October and July this year. The bailout, which directly implicates Dr Yudhoyono's deputy, former central bank governor Boediono, is building as the next key pressure point in a corruption scandal rocking the Indonesian establishment. Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri has seized on the affair as her first real chance to expose Dr Yudhoyono's weak point since he trounced her in national elections in July, supporting a move to bring the matter before a plenary session of parliament - a process that could lead to the President's impeachment. "As chairwoman (of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle) I have instructed the parliamentary party to raise the issue in the house," Ms Megawati said. Dr Yudhoyono has been the target of speculation in recent months over the bailout, which some say was partly designed to save the money of two of his biggest re-election campaign supporters, Boedi Sampurna and Hartati Murdaya. Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar was reported in local media yesterday denying the connection, saying: "Do not be suspicious. I tell you, things are 100 per cent clear. There is no problem involving Bank Century. Rumours saying that funds had flowed to SBY (Dr Yudhoyono's nickname) and his presidential election campaign team are slander. Our campaign funds are all fully accountable." A Supreme Audit Agency report on the matter, due out on Monday, could be the clincher in whether the planned parliamentary probe goes ahead, with more than 220 members of the house - many, though not all, from those parties outside of Dr Yudhoyono's ruling coalition - having signed a motion supporting it. The President is trying to head off the parliamentary inquiry but will have no choice but to submit if the audit agency report suggests improper conduct. "Many people are saying wait for the (audit agency) report, not only the President," Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring warned. The affair is building alongside a separate, though related, graft scandal that pits the police and attorney-general's department against the country's powerful corruption watchdog. Two of that body's deputy commissioners, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandrah Hamzah, are facing bribery charges over their failure to prosecute a fugitive businessman, charges many believe are trumped up. A presidential fact-finding team delivered its report this week recommending charges against the men be dropped, although Dr Yudhoyono has angered the public by failing to act on the advice. In fact, the police chief of criminal probes, Susno Duadji, was this week reinstated to his job after suspension over the issue. General Duadji was inexplicably absent from a meeting with the parliamentary committee on legal affairs on Thursday, which gathered to broker a peace between police and anti-corruption commissioners. National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri attended, however, as did Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji. Both men have come under heavy fire in public protests over what is being seen as the police's targeting of the corruption watchdog. The pair are due to meet Dr Yudhoyono today in a bid to break the deadlock over the cases against the two commissioners. Street protests and a swelling support movement on the social networking site Facebook have been calling for the police chief and Attorney-General's sacking, although there was also a barely believable pro-police rally in Jakarta this week comprised mostly of poorly paid pedicab drivers and parking attendants. And according to one member of the parliamentary committee, Harry Wicaksono, a useful way to address corruption would be for police officials to avoid playing golf, because that was "one of the entry points for case brokers". The connection between Indonesia's police and business elites took an alarming turn this year with the prosecution of the corruption watchdog's head, Antasari Azhar, over the murder of a love rival shot leaving a golf course. The woman Azhar is said to have killed the businessman over was a beautiful young golf caddie the two men shared, and who is said to have been the polygamous businessman's third wife. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
