COMMITTEE CAN USE ALL LEGAL MEANS IN CENTURY PROBE

Jakarta, Jan 29 (ANTARA) - The House Bank Century Inquiry Committee is free to use whatever lawful means there are to gain access to data or documents it needs to do its job, an inter-state agency meeting has concluded.

The understanding was reached at a consultative meeting between the House leadership, the Century Bank inquiry committee and the leaderships of the Supreme Audit Board (BPK), the central bank (BI) and the Financial Transaction Analysis and Reporting Center (PPATK) here on Friday, House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said.

Priyo said among the ways allowed and protected by the law to get data from BI, BPK and PPATK was seeking a ruling from the Supreme Court allowing the House inquiry committee to confiscate the data or documents from any of the three agencies.

BPK chief Hadi Purnomo had earlier said there was a law that forbade him to give confidential documents to parties other than law enforcing agency investigators.

However, he said, if a legal ruling was made allowing the BPK to hand data relating to the Century Bank case to the House Inquiry Committee, BPK would readily do it.

He said if a court ruling allowed the committee to confiscate confidential documents held by BPK, the responsibility to keep the documents from public knowledge would shift to the court.

Priyo said the meeting had also asked the state agencies concerned, especially BPK, BI and PPATK, to give the House Inquiry Committee the data it needs before the agreed deadline.

"This is to enable the committee to finish its task on time as mandated by the law," he said.

Regarding fears that BPK would violate the law if it handed confidential documents to parties other than law enforcing agency investigators, House Bank Century Inquiry Committee Chairman Idrus Marham said the House guaranteed that such an act would never hurt BPK.

"Leave the mechanism for the handing over of BPK documents to the House. Be sure , the House will not let the BPK be hurt for doing so," he said.

BPK deputy chief Hasan Bisri meanwhile said the confidential data or documents held by BPK were actually obtained from parties whose finances it had audited.

"So, why does the House committee not just ask those parties directly for the data and documents it needs," he said.