Indonesia’s anti-graft agency said Thursday it would question as a witness a World Bank managing director as part of an investigation into a bank bailout that forced her to quit as finance minister.
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, once considered the country’s top reformist, was among several Indonesian officials who authorised the rescue of the mid-sized Bank Century, the sole bank to be bailed out during the onset of the 2008 financial crisis in Indonesia.
The Corruption Eradication Commission said investigators would fly to Washington DC, where Indrawati is now based, to question her about the 6.7 trillion rupiah ($691 million) rescue.
Indrawati will be questioned as a witness only and has never been declared a suspect in the case.
“We will question her as a witness related to the Bank Century bailout as she was the finance minister when the bailout decision was made in 2008,” commission spokesman Johan Budi told AFP.
“The questioning will take place in April at the Indonesian embassy in Washington, DC,” he added, without giving an exact date.
Indrawati has already been questioned twice by the commission and denied any wrongdoing after it emerged that bailout funds had been siphoned off by well-connected depositors.
The case rocked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government just after the former general won a second presidency in 2009 on a graft-fighting platform, with Vice President Boediono also implicated as the central bank’s former chief.
Budi said Indrawati’s testimony would be used for the trial of former central bank deputy governor Budi Mulya, who was named a suspect in the case in November.
Indrawati resigned as finance minister in 2010 after being questioned by investigators and after the House of Representatives deemed the bailout illegal.
Analysts have said she was essentially ousted by parliamentary factions opposed to her reform agenda.
Indrawati repeated the government’s assertions that the rescue package was essential to prevent systemic risk to the economy during the 2008 global crisis.
Indonesia anti-graft body to quiz World Bank director
