Only A$642,000 of Hendra's ill-gotten US$200m recovered
Only A$642,000 of Hendra's ill-gotten US$200m recovered
Novan Iman Santosa and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Hopes of recovering funds stashed away by the late Hendra
Rahardja dimmed on Tuesday when Minister for Justice and Human
Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that an Indonesia-Australia team
tasked with tracing his ill-gotten wealth had recovered just
A$642,000 of the US$200 million that his estate still owes.
"The joint task force has managed to secure some A$642,000
(approximately equal to Rp 28.25 billion). Today, Australian
Minister for Justice and Customs Chris Ellison handed over the
check to Indonesian Ambassador Imron Cotan at 3:30 p.m. Canberra
time," said Yusril.
The joint task force was established based on a treaty between
Australia and Indonesia on mutual legal assistance last year.
All of the funds, according to Yusril, were derived from
Hendra's accounts frozen by the Australian government after the
Central Jakarta District Court sentenced him to life in March
2002.
Hendra, who was tried in absentia for corruption involving Rp
1.95 trillion (US$216.7 million) of Bank Indonesia Liquidity
Assistance (BLBI) funds, died in Australia in January 2003.
The total value of Hendra's wealth in Australia was unknown,
but earlier Australia offered Indonesia some A$120 million of
Hendra's assets in that country.
Yusril said that the confiscated money was what remained of
some of Hendra's accounts frozen by the Australian government.
According to Yusril, Hendra's family and friends had sold all
of his assets and transferred the money to tax-haven countries
soon after they learned that the Indonesian government was after
the money.
"We're currently trying to trace his assets, which likely have
been transferred from Australia to Hong Kong, China, the Cayman
Islands or the Virgin Islands. They might have transferred their
money out of the country, but the Australian government has
promised to help us trace it," Yusril said.
The minister said Indonesia had signed a mutual legal
assistance agreement with both Hong Kong and China.
The Australia government has also supported Indonesia in its
attempt to capture Hendra' son, Eko Edi Putranto, Yusril said.
Eko, whose whereabouts are still unknown, was sentenced to 20
years in jail in the same case.
Hendra was one of several wealthy bankers who fled the country
in 1997 to avoid prosecution after refusing to repay the misused
BLBI funds.
The government failed to bring Hendra, who was arrested by
the Australian government for an immigration offense in 1999, to
justice due to complicated extradition proceedings in Australia.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Imron said the joint task force
"highlighted the very close and productive cooperation by the
authorities in both countries as part of our commitment to
combating transnational crime, particularly money-laundering."
Yusril said that the achievement of the task force revealed "a
very important thing, that is the government of Australia accepts
the verdict by the Indonesian court so they decide not to re-hear
the case in Australia."
Ellison said the case demonstrated the recent improvement in
Australia's ability to recover the proceeds of crime by using for
the first time the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
"Australia is not a safe haven for money launderers and
criminals should be aware that if they bring the proceeds of
their overseas crimes to Australia, our authorities will act
together with their foreign counterparts to ensure the proceeds
of their crimes are seized," Ellison said in a press release
received by The Jakarta Post Tuesday.