Indonesia added to moneylaundering blacklist<\/p>\n
PARIS (Agencies): Industrialized nations added Indonesia to a
\nmoney laundering blacklist on Friday, thereby putting
\ninternational financial transactions with that country under a
\ntougher scrutiny.<\/p>\n
The blacklist, issued here by the Financial Action Task Force
\non money laundering, includes governments that don't cooperate
\nwith international money-laundering efforts.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government proposed money-laundering
\nlegislation to the House of Representatives in Jakarta only early
\nthis week.<\/p>\n
Indonesia and five other countries, which were entered into
\nthe list on Friday--Myanmar, Guatemala, Hungary, Nigeria and
\nEgypt-- will face increased scrutiny from the task force, whose
\n31 members include the world's major economic powers.<\/p>\n
The Financial Action Task Force is an international body
\ncreated to make it harder for criminals to move profits from
\nillegal activities through the banking system.<\/p>\n
The task force said in a report that the U.S., Japan, Germany
\nand other industrialized nations had also decided to tighten
\ncontrols on financial transactions with Russia, the Philippines
\nand the Pacific island nation of Nauru unless those governments
\ncrack down on money laundering.<\/p>\n
\"Enhanced surveillance and reporting of financial transactions
\nand other relevant actions involving these jurisdictions are now
\nrequired,\" the Paris-based task force said in the report.<\/p>\n
Among the retaliatory steps that task-force member governments
\nmight take against the blacklisted countries: warning
\nmultinational corporations away from doing business in those
\ncountries; forcing banks to collect detailed information before
\nconducting transactions with citizens or companies in those
\ncountries; and making it more difficult for banks based in those
\ncountries to operate overseas.<\/p>\n
The three governments, listed as the most egregious offenders,
\nimmediately defended their records and stressed their opposition
\nto money laundering. Russia has recently ratified a money-
\nlaundering agreement, introduced legislation to combat the
\npractice and created a special money-laundering unit in the
\nMinistry of Finance, said Yuri Zubarev, press secretary at the
\nRussian Embassy in Washington.<\/p>\n
\"There are practical steps being taken,\" he said. \"Whether
\nit's enough or not, we're doing what is possible.\"<\/p>\n
The governments of both the Philippines and Nauru have also
\nproposed money-laundering legislation.<\/p>\n
\"We are taking aggressive action to curb, if not totally
\neliminate, money laundering,\" said Patricia Paez, spokeswoman for
\nthe Embassy of the Philippines in Washington.<\/p>\n
The task force cited several countries blacklisted last year
\nthat remain on the list this year, but have improved their money-
\nlaundering enforcement, including Israel and Lebanon. The
\nBahamas, Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein and Panama were removed
\nfrom the blacklist entirely.<\/p>\n
The decision to penalize Russia and the Philippines, in
\nparticular, assuaged some European concerns about whether the
\nBush administration would endorse a joint approach to money
\nlaundering. The administration in recent months has moved to
\nweaken a coordinated campaign against offshore tax havens and has
\nlaunched an internal review of domestic money-laundering rules.<\/p>\n
\"We fully support the FATF efforts to fight money laundering,\"
\nsaid a Treasury Department spokeswoman, who declined to comment
\non the specific task-force recommendations. The review of
\ndomestic laws comes \"in light of the fact that customs seizures
\nhaven't increased and convictions haven't increased,\" she said.<\/p>\n
A French official said that Europeans had gone into this
\nweek's task-force meetings worried that the U.S. would insist on
\nreviewing the entire money-laundering initiative. \"We see
\nproductive discussions with the U.S., but there are still a
\nnumber of fundamental issues to be clarified,\" with regard to the
\nU.S. approach to both tax havens and money laundering, said Caio
\nKoch-Weser, Germany's deputy finance minister.<\/p>",
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