SBY remains silent on Bank Century indictment

JAKARTA. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono remains silent on Friday following a recent indictment in the Bank Century case that indicated the role of Vice President Boediono.

The scandal almost led to Yudhoyono getting impeached following lawmakers' move in 2010 that initiated a legislative inquiry into the case.

"Later, I will tell you [later] when I have something to say," presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said on Friday at the Presidential Office.

Julian also refused to comment on whether Yudhoyono support Boediono, who was mentioned in Thursday's indictment against former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Budi Mulya by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The first court hearing in the country’s biggest corruption case has not indicated whether Yudhoyono had any role in approving a bank bailout in 2008 that led to massive state losses.

However, the indictment alleges that Budi and all of BI’s then board of governors involved in the bailout of Bank Century, including Boediono, had “collectively” committed violations.

Prosecutors have accused them of making illicit arrangements and orchestrating the eligibility of Bank Century to receive the bailout despite fraudulent actions carried out by its management and shareholders that had left the bank insolvent. The KPK also found that the bank should not have been salvaged as it posed no systemic risks to the banking sector if it had went under.

A KPK prosecutor said that Boediono would be among the witnesses summoned to testify in later hearings, while Budi insisted that he would not be made a scapegoat as the alleged crimes were committed “collectively”.

Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party deputy chairwoman Nurhayati Ali Assegaf has called on the public not to be “blinded” by the politicizing of the case.

"It's a legal process; we'll see where the progress leads to," Julian added. "As we all know Bapak President always respects the legal process."