Govt requests revisions to dirty money law: DPR

Govt requests revisions to dirty money law: DPR

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) endorsed on Friday a
government proposal to revise the law on money laundering that
took effect several months ago, on the grounds that several
clauses of the law were deemed both ineffective and incomplete.

"We have been asked by the government to revise the law, and
we welcome the request," chairman of DPR Commission II for home
and legal affairs A. Teras Narang said.

According to Teras, the revision centered on one clause of the
law stipulating that the banks could only check alleged illicit
funds, either transfers or savings, amounting to over Rp 500
million.

"The amount is too high and should be reduced," Teras was
quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

However, in order to determine the precise amount, further
discussion at the DPR was necessary, Teras added.

The law is also considered incomplete as it has no clause
regulating money laundering where the money is gained through
illegal gambling.

Teras said that the revision would take place immediately at
the DPR.

Indonesia has been rushing for months to meet requirements
from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering
to remove Indonesia from its list of countries deemed
uncooperative in the world's drive to fight the crime.

The passing of law on money laundering is part of Indonesian
efforts to remove itself from the list, but FATF remained
dissatisfied with the law, such that it kept Indonesia on its
latest blacklist.

Currently 15 countries are included in the Paris-based FATF
blacklist.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia has requested technical assistance
from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to help the
central bank supervise banking activities in the country.

The technical assistance being sought relates to
technicalities on how to establish a financial services authority
and how to implement antimoney-laundering law, said Bank
Indonesia deputy governor Anwar Nasution.

"The IMF team welcomed our request," said Anwar, after
emerging from a meeting between Bank Indonesia officials and the
IMF letter of intent review team visiting Indonesia on Friday.

Separately, chairman of the country's antimoney-laundering
task force Junus Hussein said that the IMF and Japan were ready
to grant training assistance.

Junus, also chairman of the Center for the Reporting and
Analysis of Financial Transactions (PPATK), said that the foreign
trainers were expected to train Indonesian supervisors and
auditors to prevent money laundering from occurring in the
country.