Indonesia 'able to enter' Swiss, Austrian bank secrecy

Indonesia 'able to enter' Swiss, Austrian bank secrecy

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government has claimed to be able
to penetrate bank secrecy in Switzerland and Austria on cases
related to money laundering, including the allegedly ill-gotten
wealth owned by former president Soeharto and his family.

"After Switzerland, finally Austria is willing to fully help
open its bank secrecy to customers who are believed to have made
deposit from money laundering practices," Minister of Justice
Muladi told Antara in Vienna, Austria, on Friday evening.

"Moreover, the two countries are also willing to closely
cooperate in the future," he said, adding that such a help was
not limited to the provision of data on the alleged ill-gotten
wealth of Soeharto and his family.

Muladi, Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib and banking expert
Sutan Remy Syahdeini are in Austria on a mission to trace the
whereabouts of a US$9 billion transfer allegedly made by the
Soehartos from a Swiss bank, as reported recently by Time
magazine.

Muladi said that in the meetings with high-ranking officials
of both Swiss and Austrian justice ministries, attorney general's
offices, police and central banks, both sides have agreed to help
Indonesia uncover the money laundering practices.

In a meeting with Austrian Attorney General Gottfried Shasser
and Central Bank Governor Klaus Liebscher on Friday morning, for
example, it was agreed that Indonesia should send an official
letter requiring the opening up of the bank secrecy in the
country toward the possibility of money laundering practices and
other crimes conducted by certain customers, Muladi said.

"The letter from Indonesia will be answered in the form of
written documents so as to enable them to be used as evidence in
the Indonesian court. Principally, the two sides agreed that the
money laundering practices are part of transnational crimes which
must be wiped out," he said.

Muladi, who is a former rector of the Diponegoro University in
Semarang, Central Java, explained that the contents of the
official letters from the two countries cannot be disclosed as
they were to be sent to President B.J. Habibie first.

"This night we will compile complete reports to the President
to be handed over to him directly several hours after voting on
Monday. On the same day, or at least on Tuesday, I will hold a
media conference at the State Secretariat," he said.

Muladi, who is also a former member of the National Commission
on Human Right, said that Indonesia could be said to have made a
kind of new precedence in penetrating the bank secrecy linked to
money laundering practices because such a process was usually
done by private consultants in an arduous and time-consuming way
and at great expense.

Besides, according Swiss banking history, secret data could be
opened and savings cashed only after customers were found guilty
in line with a court verdict, he said.

Such practices were applied to the savings of Mobutu Sese
Seko, former president of Zaire, and Ferdinand Marcos, former
president of the Philippines.

"The penetration of bank secrecy in Switzerland and Austria
did not take place easily because the two countries initially
insisted on following existing regulations. But after we forced
them to, they agreed, after seeing the seriousness of the
Indonesian government, including investigating and trying
cronies, family members and Soeharto himself," Muladi was quoted
by Antara as saying.

Sutan Remy, a banking expert staff to the minister of justice,
said that Indonesia's efforts to fight money laundering practices
would function as an example for other countries having similar
cases.

"This is a positive precedence which can be emulated by other
countries even though money laundering syndicates will surely
used new methods as well. But we should not forget to improve the
legal system related to transnational crimes," he said.

In Jakarta, a source at the National Police said on Sunday
detectives did not know what steps to take to follow up on the
legal complaint filed against Time by Soeharto last Wednesday.

"We're studying whether there were any criminal breaches in
the article," the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity,
told The Jakarta Post.

When asked whether police could summon the magazine's
executives for questioning, the source said: "It's not that
simple. If we summon people, either witnesses or suspects, we
must first known the details of the alleged violations
committed."

The source also said police had to study the Time article to
determine whether it was libelous and defamatory.

"We're still studying it thoroughly," the source said.
(hhr/emf)