House Commission III Does Not Want Asset Forfeiture Law to Become Tool for "Abuse of Power"

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chairman of House Commission III Ahmad Sahroni does not want the Law on Asset Forfeiture to become a tool for abuse of power or misuse of authority by law enforcement officials (APH). He stated that the Draft Law (RUU) on Asset Forfeiture will not be designed to circumvent “hanky-panky” behaviour or dishonest and deceptive conduct. However, he emphasised that Commission III of the House of Representatives wants to eliminate corruption in Indonesia through the preparation of this draft law. “We all certainly want the Asset Forfeiture Law to be related to how to strike down those who are corrupt,” Sahroni said in Jakarta on Monday. According to him, there needs to be internal prevention by law enforcement officials to avoid deception in circumventing the Asset Forfeiture Law in the future. In particular, he does not want the presumption of innocence principle in the law to be exploited through deviations. “This is a discussion for all of you, the legal experts who are our legal partners; we want this to be understood by many parties,” he said. “Do not let the law instead result in people’s rights being seized when their assets are not from criminal acts,” said Bimantoro. In addition, the law also needs to regulate the asset return system if the assets are not proven to be the result of crimes. Because, he assessed that if the assets have been labelled as proceeds of crime, it will be difficult to sell them. “For example, if this asset is seized and it turns out to be proven that it belongs to their parents, indeed at the beginning it was too hasty, an opinion was created in the public first, everything was taken. The two assets that were not proven end up being difficult to sell as well,” said Bimantoro. “We must also regulate how the return process works, whereas the public has already stigmatised that asset badly,” he added.