House Ethics Council asked to take stand on Yandhu's court testimony

Antara , Jakarta | Tue, 07/29/2008 5:41 PM | National

House of Representatives (DPR) speaker Agung Laksono has asked the House's Ethics Council (BK DPR) to adopt a stand on Golkar Party lawmaker Hamka Yandhu's testimony.

Yandhu, who was a member of the House of Representatives' Commission IX from 1999-2004, told a Corruption Court hearing on Monday that Rp 100 billion in Bank Indonesia funds were distributed to 52 other Commission IX members at the time.

"I ask the DPR Ethics Council to react soon (to Yandhu's statement) and I will also meet with the council's chairman soon to discuss it," Laksono said here on Tuesday.

He made the statement when he was questioned as a witness in the trial of former BI legal affair deputy director Oey Hoe Tiong and former BI communication bureau head Rusli Simanjuntak in the illegal BI funds transfer case.

The House speaker said the names of the 52 legislators were actually already known by the public but after Yandhu had formally mentioned them in court, the case had became more serious.

"The case has damaged the DPR's image, and therefore the House will fully support the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)'s effort to settle it through legal measures," Laksono said.

He said the DPR would not interfere in or prevent the legal process against those involved in the case.

Commenting on Yandhu's testimony that National Development Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta and Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Ka'ban were also implicated in the corruption case,
Laksono said the DPR would leave the matter to the President.

"We will fully entrust it to the president," he said.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng said on Tuesday that President Yudhoyono would respect the legal process and facts in regard to the two ministers who were alleged to be among the recipients of illegal Bank Indonesia (BI) funds in 2003.

Malarangeng said President Yudhoyono was leaving everything in the case to what the legal facts were.

"As for the President, he leaves it to whatever the legal facts are. The people concerned can defend themselves based on the principle of presumption of innocence," Malarangeng told
reporters before accompanying President Yudhoyono to a meeting with visiting OPEC President Chakib Khalil.(**)

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