Sri Mulyani Indrawati - Bank Century Scandal

Bank Century Scandal

Right before her resignation, The Legislature, spearheaded by Golkar Party, accused Sri Mulyani of a crime with the bailout of medium scale Bank Century in 2008. Critics of the bailout claim it was done without legal authority and without proving a capital injection was needed to prevent a run on other banks, Bank Century bailout cost the state to suffer a financial lost amounting to 6,7 trillions rupiah ($710 million). Sri Mulyani has defended the bailout as necessary given the uncertainties in the global economy at the time and denied any wrongdoing.

However, criticism about Sri Mulyani's policy also came from ex vice president Jusuf Kalla. In his harshest comments yet on the controversial PT Bank Century bailout, former Vice President Jusuf Kalla denied claims by former Bank Indonesia officials that if the lender had been allowed to fail it would have had a systemic impact on the country’s banking system and economy.

“The Bank Century scandal is a robbery, anyone who supports Bank Century, supports a robber.” Kalla said.

Furthermore, all of the nine factions on the House of Representatives special committee agreed that there were suspicious and possibly fraudulent transactions during the bailout period beginning in November 2008 and evidence of money laundering. They all then said they lacked the expertise to do more and called on the National Police and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to take over.