Century Scandal: AKBAR FAISAL CORRECTS STATEMENT ON ELECTION CONTRIBUTORS

Jakarta Forum - Makassar, Lawmaker Akbar Faisal here Friday corrected his earlier statement that a Bank Century customer in Makassar, Amiruddin Rustan, had contributed to the election campaign funds of a presidential candidate in 2009.

"Before the meeting is closed may I correct my earlier statement regarding donations to one of the tickets in the presidential race last year. The party I meant was Asuransi Jaya Proteksi (AJP), not Amirudin Rustan. I made a mistake," Akbar, a member of the House Bank Century Inquiry Committee, said.

He admitted that he had earlier suspected Amiruddin Rustan, a car repair service businessman, of being one of the recipients of Bank Century bailout funds which were later donated to one of the tickets in the presidential race last year.

"There were donations from one of the companies and we wished to know if the company belongs to AR totalling Rp500 million sent on June 25, 2009," he said.

He said based on data from the General Elections Commission (KPU), the company was ranked 99th on the list of the 100 biggest companies and institutions that had financially supported one of the presidential tickets in 2009.

"Based on data from the Center of Financial Transactions Analysis and Report (PPATK), AR received Rp4 billion of the Century Bank bailout funds between November 2008 and February 2009," he said.

AR had split his deposit in the bank in the same way Budi Sampoerna had done for disbursing the funds.

"The deposit was divided into a number of accounts worth Rp2 billion each which is the maximum limit to be guaranteed by the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS). Unless it was split it could not be disbursed," he said.

Source: