Gibran Reiterates Push for Asset Forfeiture Bill

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has again urged the acceleration of the Asset Forfeiture Bill as a crucial instrument to strengthen the fight against corruption in Indonesia. According to Gibran, corruptors should not only be imprisoned but also impoverished by returning all proceeds of crime to the state. The statement was made via a reposted video on his personal Instagram account on Saturday (25/7/2026). The caption noted the video was first published in February 2026 and was re-shared in July amid intensifying discussions on the bill. “If we are serious about eradicating corruption, then corruptors must be impoverished. Corruptors must know that corruption does not only mean sleeping behind bars, but the state can also seize back all the assets they have stolen,” Gibran said. He highlighted the persistently low rate of state loss recovery from corruption cases. Citing data from Indonesia Corruption Watch for the 2013–2022 period, Gibran noted that potential state losses reached Rp238 trillion. Meanwhile, based on the Attorney General’s Office case handling data for 2024, potential state losses amounted to Rp310 trillion, yet only around Rp1.6 trillion in assets were successfully recovered for the state treasury. “More than 90 per cent of corruption assets simply evaporate and continue to be enjoyed by the perpetrators and their relatives,” Gibran stated. He added that the situation is exacerbated by increasingly sophisticated, organised, and transnational criminal methods that utilise modern technology to conceal assets and conduct money laundering. Therefore, Gibran views the presence of the Asset Forfeiture Bill as a strategic step to strengthen state asset recovery efforts. He explained that the state must have the authority to confiscate assets proven to originate, either directly or indirectly, from criminal acts. “The principle is simple: as long as an asset can be proven to originate directly or indirectly from criminal acts such as corruption, narcotics, illegal mining, illegal fishing, illegal logging, online gambling, or human trafficking, the state has the authority to seize those assets to be returned as state assets,” he asserted.