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The House of Representatives special committee investigating the Bank Century bailout is in the final phase of a months-long saga that has dramatically affected the mood of the public and investors in the country. As the full House deliberates the committee’s final report, it must keep one critical factor in mind. For the sake of the economy and the country, the Bank Century issue must not be allowed to drag on any longer.

Since January, the country’s stock market has drifted sideways as investors stayed on the sidelines awaiting the outcome of the investigation. Even investors with a longer-term outlook have delayed making decisions until the investigation is cleared up.

If allowed to drag on for much longer, the investigation and the political uncertainty stemming from it will slow the economy just as momentum is beginning to build. It is clear that the bailout prevented the economy from going into a tailspin in the first place, but the ongoing political uncertainty is having a detrimental impact on consumer and investor confidence.

Both the business community and the banking fraternity have come out and said that the Bank Century bailout was necessary to ensure the country’s banking system did not collapse due to systemic risk. Lawmakers should heed the opinion of those who are in a position to judge the merits of the decision to save the troubled lender.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has rightly come out and said that he was in charge and is therefore fully responsible for the decision to bail out the bank in 2008. The evidence that has been presented so far by the House special committee appears to suggest that the officials who followed his instructions did not personally gain from the bailout money.

As the president pointed out, if crimes were committed surrounding the bailout, it is the police that should investigate and charge anyone found to have violated the law.

“The inquiry by the legislature is not a pro-justitia inquiry, let alone a [law enforcement] investigation,” the president said, adding, however, that as head of state, he respected the process.

It is difficult at this point to tell if the public’s interest has been served by the House investigation. That may become clearer with the passage of time. But what is clear is that given the evidence on hand, as well as the impact the investigation has had on investor sentiment, it is time to draw a line in the sand and move on.

Lawmakers, hopefully, will keep this in mind as they deliberate the final draft of the report. There will be no winners and the nation as a whole will lose if this issue is allowed to drag on.