BI finds suspicious transactions in 7 banks

BI finds suspicious transactions in 7 banks

TANGERANG: Bank Indonesia has received 40 reports of
suspicious transactions that could be linked to money laundering
in five local banks and two foreign banks operating here.

The Central Bank's Deputy Director of Law Department, Yunus
Husein, said in a discussion on money laundering at Hotel
Imperial, Karawaci, Tangerang on Sunday they were still studying
the reports.

He said they would complete the reports with their own on-the-
spot investigations of six of the banks.

According to him, the Central Bank is busy preparing its
database system and other information-related infrastructure
needed for its banking investigation unit. "Our information
system is being developed as a center for analyzing financial
transactions," he was quoted by Detik.com as saying.

Meanwhile, the head of Bank Indonesia's banking investigation
unit, Sundari Arie, also said that from the reports they have
studied they had not yet found enough data to conclude the seven
banks had laundered money.

He said that based on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF)
review on preventing money laundering, Indonesia was still listed
as "uncooperative" because it had not yet applied recommendations
made by the FATF.--JP