AAI Proposes Establishing an Independent Asset Forfeiture Centre

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesian National United Advocates Association (AAI Nasional Bersatu) chairman Prof Jamin Ginting has proposed that the Asset Forfeiture Bill provide for the establishment of an independent Asset Forfeiture Centre (PPA).

Speaking at a meeting with Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Wednesday, he said the PPA would face significant risks if placed under a law-enforcement agency that was not independent.

Ginting, a professor, also delivered an academic address entitled “The Urgency of Establishing an Independent Asset Forfeiture Centre as a Means of Resolving Asset Forfeiture through Civil and Criminal Asset Forfeiture”.

“I did not really want the PPA to be placed under the Attorney General’s Office, to be frank. I am more inclined towards an independent PPA,” he said.

Under the 2003 United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), he said, asset forfeiture is only one part of the broader effort to recover assets. The convention identifies at least three key areas: investigation, litigation and international cooperation.

Ginting explained that investigation includes tracing and identifying assets, followed by measures such as freezing, returning or forfeiting them.

Those efforts must then proceed to litigation concerning the forfeiture. The mechanisms used may be in personam or in rem.

He added that asset recovery must also include arrangements for international cooperation. Discussions of the Asset Forfeiture Bill, he said, often rely only on a domestic perspective.

The bill should also set out mechanisms for forfeiting assets held overseas, the instruments to be used and the institutions needed to exercise those powers, he said.

“Who will the institution be? How will it operate? What instruments will be used? These are all related to asset forfeiture, but they are given very little attention. I think it would be premature to pass this in the near future. These instruments should, in fact, be given considerable attention,” he said.