Money laundering bill sent to House for deliberation
Money laundering bill sent to House for deliberation
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government submitted on Monday a bill to the House of
Representatives to amend the antimoney-laundering law amid
increasing pressure from the international community to cooperate
in the struggle against money laundering.
Yunus Husein, the chairman of the Financial Transaction and
Report Analysis Center (PPATK), said that the State Secretariat
submitted the draft law to the House on Monday afternoon after it
was approved by President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
"Hopefully, it (the deliberation process) will be completed
during this sitting period. Leaders of the House have pledged
their commitment in speeding up its deliberation," Yunus told The
Jakarta Post by phone on Monday.
PPATK is a body tasked with analyzing and investigating
questionable financial transactions.
The submission of a new draft law came in the wake of threats
from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force on Money
Laundering (FATF) to take tough action if Indonesia failed to
meet its target of completing the amendment of Law No. 15/2002 on
Money Laundering crimes before September 2003.
Yunus said the FATF had warned that it may impose high-risk
premiums on all financial transactions by Indonesian financial
institutions with their offshore counterparts.
Yunus said the organization was set to have a plenary meeting
from June 18 to June 20 in Berlin to discuss actions to be taken
against countries listed as Non-Cooperative Countries and
Territories (NCCTs).
"They will review our progress. So they may take us off the
blacklist or impose a new deadline (for Indonesia) to speed up
the amendment process," Yunus said.
Indonesia remains on NCCT's list, despite the anti-money
laundering law passed in April 2002 amid pressure from foreign
donors, particularly the U.S. in the wake of the Sept. 11
attacks, in an attempt to cut the financing of terrorist groups.
However, the law was considered insufficient as FATF demanded
that some clauses be revised to meet international standards.
Rampant corruption and weak legal enforcement have made
Indonesia a safe haven for crime, analysts have said.
Key clauses in the draft law include one that shortens the
time period for banks to report suspicious transactions from 14
days to three days.
The draft law also revokes a clause in the current law that
requires banks and financial institutions to report any
suspicious transactions valued at Rp 500 million or more. The
clause will be replaced with one stipulating that all dubious
transactions have to be reported to authorities.
Unlike the current law, the bill has a clause banning banks or
other financial institutions from passing on information about
the reported transactions to other parties.
Money laundering is the practice of converting money generated
from corruption, bribery, smuggling, bank-related crimes, drug-
related crimes, human-trafficking, gambling and terrorism into
legal investments.
Based on past reports, funds alleged to have been part of
money-laundering networks reach about 2 percent to 5 percent of
the world's gross-domestic product or about US$600 billion.
Chronology of Indonesia's antimoney-laundering law
June 2000: Indonesia is put on the list of Non-Cooperative
Countries and Territories (NCCTs).
April 2002: The government passes Law No. 15/2002 on Combating
Money Laundering crimes and establishes the Financial Transaction
and Report Analysis Center (PPATK).
February 2003: In a plenary meeting in Paris, FATF decides
Indonesia remains on the NCCT list but no countermeasure sanctions
are imposed. The agency also demands Indonesia to amend the newly
enacted antimoney-laundering law.
June 2003: PPATK meets with representatives of FATF in a
preliminary meeting before a plenary session of FATF scheduled for
June 18 to June 20 in Berlin.