S'pore aid sought in BNI case<\/p>\n
Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's antimoney-laundering agency expected its Singaporean
\ncounterpart to be more cooperative in its investigation into the
\nBank Negara Indonesia (BNI) case, upon learning that some of the
\nill-gotten funds had been channeled to several banks in the city-
\nstate.<\/p>\n
Yunus Husein, chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports
\nAnalysis Center (PPATK), said on Thursday that the Suspicious
\nTransaction Reporting Office (STRO) had refused to trace the flow
\nof BNI funds.<\/p>\n
STRO is the city-state's version of PPATK.<\/p>\n
\"That could spell problems for Indonesia's efforts to recover
\nthe misused funds,\" Yunus said, adding that it could derail
\nefforts to punish the perpetrators.<\/p>\n
Yunus said some of the funds had been used in financial
\ntransactions involving more than 10 accounts at a number of banks
\nin Singapore.<\/p>\n
He refused to name the banks or the amounts involved.<\/p>\n
\"We sent STRO a letter asking about the identities of the
\nowners of the accounts and where the funds went from there. But
\nthey said they couldn't do that as it required the consent of the
\naccount holders,\" he said, citing the banking secrecy code.<\/p>\n
The Rp 1.7 trillion BNI graft case involves 17 people
\nsuspects, three of whom have already been tried at court. Less
\nthan a quarter of the funds have been recovered.<\/p>\n
Unless solid evidence of money laundering is presented to the
\nSingaporeans, there is not much they can do about it, Yunus
\ncontinued.<\/p>\n
The PPATK is tasked with collecting, recording and analyzing
\nall information reported by financial service providers in the
\nform of suspicious transaction reports (STR) and cash transaction
\nreports (CTR).<\/p>\n
Reports that indicate a crime are forwarded to the police or
\nthe Attorney General's Office for further investigation.<\/p>\n
According to Law No. 25\/2003, money laundering is defined as
\nthe practice of converting money generated from unlawful
\npractices including corruption, bribery, smuggling, banking-
\nrelated crimes, drug-related crimes, people trafficking, gambling
\nand terrorism into legal investments.<\/p>\n
Yunus said tough crackdowns on cases like BNI would put the
\ncountry -- which has been included on the list of uncooperative
\nnations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the fight
\nagainst money laundering -- into a better position in the eyes of
\ninternational community.<\/p>\n
Asked what the agency's next step to trace the accounts in
\nSingapore would be, Yunus said the PPAT was seeking ways to work
\nit out, including drumming up support from the police and the
\nAttorney General's Office.<\/p>\n
The FATF is a powerful global antimoney-laundering watchdog
\nset up by developed countries.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Supreme Court on Thursday swore in Priyanto,
\nSusno Duadji and Bambang Setiawan as deputy chairmen of the
\nPPATK.<\/p>\n
\"I welcome their appointments. Hopefully their presence will
\noptimize the role of the PPATK,\" Yunus, who was present at the
\nceremony, said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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