Govt upbeat RI to be dropped from money laundering list

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After lobbying members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering group, the government is optimistic Indonesia will be removed from the FATF's blacklist.

Minister of Trade Mari Elka Pangestu was upbeat on Monday over the prospect of the country being removed from the list of noncooperative countries and territories (NCCT) set out by the powerful Paris-based FATF.

"The FATF countries that we have talked to have responded positively to our attempts to combat money laundering. There are signs that they will drop us from the NCCT list since we have done a lot in that direction," Mari said at the State Palace.

Mari is among the ministers deployed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to lobby member countries of the FATF. Mari recently visited France and Britain to that purpose. France is the current head of the FATF.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie, who has been in discussions with the United States and Canada, also expressed confidence Indonesia would be removed from the list.

"We are confident we will be off of the blacklist during the upcoming session of the FATF. My meetings in the United States and Canada were very promising," said Aburizal.

The FATF will convene in Paris on Wednesday to review the NCCT list and at the same time decide the fate of Indonesia.

FATF is a global anti-money laundering watchdog set up by the developed nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Indonesia has been on the noncooperative list along with Nauru, Nigeria, the Philippines, Myanmar and the Cook Islands since 2001.

By being on the list, Indonesia risks several sanctions, which include higher risk premiums imposed on local firms when making transactions with international firms; termination of correspondence alliances between local banks and banks in member countries of FATF; and the rejection of letters of credit (L/Cs) issued by local banks.

Mari said the government had taken several important steps to get off the noncooperative list, including passing an anti-money laundering law and establishing the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK). She also said the PPATK had audited the country's financial institutions to uncover any money laundering activities.

"I have told the FATF member countries that with all of our efforts, we deserve to be removed from the list," she said.

However, there is no guarantee the FATF will see the efforts as sufficient, particularly since they have produced few concrete results.

One of the concerns of the FATF is that Indonesia has not yet been able to bring a money launderer to court, despite the legal framework for the prosecution of the crime.