House investigator wants to end Mulyani-Tantular recording debates

The debate on the recording of an alleged conversation between Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and Century Bank’s ex-owner, Robert Tantular, is not productive, says a member of the House of Representatives’ inquiry committee on the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) Bank Century bailout.

“Let’s end the debate right now," Golkar Party’s Bambang Soesatyo told a conference in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Sunday.

"I don’t want the committee’s work to deviate from its original agenda of revealing the truth behind the Bank Century debacle."

Bambang said the committee did not intend to accuse anyone using the recording, but it just wanted to clarify whether the conversation actually took place or not.

The Finance Ministry had said the conversation in the recording was not between Sri Mulyani and Robert Tantular, but between her and Marsilam Simanjuntak.

Bambang said although he appreciated the ministry’s clarification, he insisted that Mulyani and Tantular should be summoned by the committee to give their own explanation.

“I’m not afraid of defamation charges, because as a legislator, I have immunity rights to investigate anything to reveal the truth,” he said.

Source: Hans David Tampubolon , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 12/13/2009