RI slow to review money laundering law<\/p>\n
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
With the House of Representatives dragging its feet in amending
\nthe country's antimoney laundering law, Indonesia could slip back
\nonto the list of countries categorized as havens for money
\nlaunderers, an expert warns.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis
\nCenter (PPATK), Yunus Husein, said that of the 55 laws the House
\nwas scheduled to review and amend this year -- including the
\nantimoney laundering law -- no significant progress had been made
\non any of the laws.<\/p>\n
\"It is not that I am being pessimistic, but the review of the
\nlaw in the House is going really slowly,\" Yunus said on Wednesday
\nduring a panel discussion of Law No. 15\/2002 on antimoney
\nlaundering.<\/p>\n
The amendment of the antimoney laundering law is particularly
\nimportant, Yunus said, to fix the existing shortcomings in
\nIndonesia's antimoney laundering regime and to accommodate new
\ninternational standards.<\/p>\n
The House previously amended Law No. 15\/2002, along with Law
\nNo. 25\/2003 -- which included the establishment of the PPATK --
\nin an effort to remove Indonesia from the Financial Action Task
\nForce (FATF)'s list of Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories.<\/p>\n
The FATF, a global money laundering watchdog set up by the
\nOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development, removed
\nIndonesia from the list in February this year, but will continue
\nto monitor the country's progress on a yearly basis.<\/p>\n
Yunus previously said the FATF could reconsider its decision
\nto remove Indonesia from the list if the country failed to heed
\nthe task force's six follow-up recommendations, which include
\nintensifying financial audits of small banks, improving the audit
\nprocess and systems, drafting mutual legal assistance bills for
\nmoney laundering suspects and prosecuting them in a timely
\nmanner, and increasing the capacity of the PPATK and widening its
\nauthority to freeze any suspicious accounts.<\/p>\n
Yunus said his office would continue to improve its work
\npending the law's amendment, particularly in widening its
\nreporting parties, which currently consist of 4,000 banks and
\nnonbank financial institutions.<\/p>\n
\"In the future, we expect to receive reports from lawyers,
\npublic accountants, property agents and even car dealers -- just
\nlike in the United States -- to better monitor the flow of funds
\nin the country,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The PPATK has as of May 13 received 19,078 suspicious
\ntransaction reports, of which 278 of them have been followed up
\non by the police. Only 45 cases, however, have reached
\nprosecutors, while the rest were set aside for lack of evidence.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-slow-to-review-money-laundering-law-1447893297",
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