Act on money laundering: Howard

Act on money laundering: Howard

Indonesia should open up its financial institutions to scrutiny as a way of cracking down on money laundering and earning the trust of foreign investors, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Sunday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wants Indonesia removed from an international list of countries that are not doing enough to stamp out money laundering.

Howard said he would hold talks with Indonesian Minister of Finance Yusuf Anwar to discuss how best to achieve that goal.

"I will be very happy to talk about it," Howard told Australian television's Nine network.

It was not immediately clear when the talks would happen.

Howard said many foreign investors would shun Indonesia until it built confidence in its financial systems.

"We encourage Indonesia to be as transparent financially as possible," he said.

"The key to Indonesia's future economic success is foreign investment and you don't attract foreign investment in today's world unless you have a transparent domestic economic and legal system because if people don't feel sure that their investments are safe, they'll invest elsewhere," he added. "That is the reality that all countries that have tried to emerge from an underdeveloped stage have to understand and recognize."

Indonesia is on a list of so-called Noncooperative Countries and Territories compiled by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering.

According to the task force's Website, the other countries on the list are the Cook Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria and the Philippines. --AP