Century case not expected to reach Constitutional Court

JAKARTA LIFE'S STYLE

Constitutional Court (MK) chairman Mahfud MD does not believe the Bank Century case now being investigated by lawmakers will reach the court.
"Until now I have seen no sign it will reach the MK, although theoretically it can," he said here on Saturday.

Mahfud said there was no indication so far that the case would reach the MK because the parliamentary inquiry still had to pass through its final phase , namely discussion in a House plenary session attended by two-thirds of the House membership on March 2.

He said the case could be brought to the MK if the DPR agreed to impeach the President and/or the vice president in connection with the case.

For that to happen required the approval of two-thirds of the DPR membership present at a plenary session on the matter.

"Just imagine, two-thirds of the House membership must be present and the support of at least two-thirds of them is needed for the case to be referred to the MK. The ratio between those likely to be for and those expected to be against now is 46 to 54," Mahfud said.

He said it would only take the combined votes of Democrat Party and National Awakening Party (PKB) legislators to block the case`s referral to the MK.

He admitted he had never imagined it would reach the MK although in the next two weeks the case would continue to be debated in the DPR.

"I have never imagined the case will reach the MK but the political temperature in the House is likely to rise in the next two weeks ," he said.

Anyway, should the issue reach the MK, the court would be ready, Mahfud said.

Qodari, a political observer from Indo Barometer, meanwhile predicted the House plenary session on the case scheduled on March 2 and 3 would end without a conclusive decision.

"After studying the substance of the final statements of the political party factions at the plenary meeting of the House Bank Century Inquiry Committee, I think it will be difficult for the House to reach a concensus," he said at a discussion on the case in Jakarta on Saturday.

He said he saw many different views and substances in the statements and so several votes would have to be taken to overcome the differences.

He said he thought the most interesting vote would be on whether or not the names of the officials considered responsible in the case need to be mentioned in the House`s final stance.

Seven factions in the House Bank Century Inquiry committee stated in their final statements on Teusday that violations had occurred with regard to the extension of the Short-term Funding Facility (FPJP) and capital participation totalling Rp6.7 trillion in the failed bank.

Only two factions, namely the Democrat Party and National Awakening Party (PKB) factions had stated that the extension of FPJP and capital participation did not violate the regulations.

Regarding the flow of Bank Century funds all factions agreed that violations had been committed in it but they differed with regard to who had violated the law and had to be held responsible for it.

Four factions, namely the PDIP, PKS, Golkar Party and Hanura Party factions mentioned names considered reponsible for the violations that had happened in the Bank Century case. (antaranews)

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