Bakrie Capital Indonesia chairman Nirwan Bakrie told Indonesian magazine Tempo that the Lapindo Group of companies needed to make the sale to procure more funds for the clean-up of the mud disaster.

Nirwan Bakrie is the younger brother of Lapindo owner Abu Rizal Bakrie – a multimillionaire and power broker in the Golkar party who is also Indonesia’s Social Welfare Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy.

Nirwan Bakrie told Tempo that paying to help clean up the disaster did not mean that the Bakrie family or their companies were accepting responsibility for the disaster, which he believed could have been caused by volcanic activity rather than poor drilling practices.

But the sale of the company to a consortium put together by an American business acquaintance was apparently for just $US1 million ($A1.3 million) – a drop in the bucket in the context of a relief effort that will costs hundreds of millions of dollars.

Some commentators have expressed fears that the sale was intended to drive the company bankrupt so the minister can avoid further financial responsibility.

Tempo reported that Abu Rizal Bakrie said he was ready to face Bapepam legally.

“We’ll see later who will be the right party before the law,” he said.