Police reshuffle brings hope for money laundering probe

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Anticorruption bodies, criminal experts and the public have put high hopes on the new head of internal affairs at the National Police Headquarters that he will quickly resolve allegations of money laundering involving 15 police officers.

Chairman of Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) Neta S. Pane was now more optimistic that the police could resolve the high profile case as Insp. Gen. Yusuf Manggabarani, the newly appointed head of the internal affairs division, has a clean track record and a good reputation.

With such a reputation, Yusuf, who was previously head of the police telecommunications division before taking the new post, should be bold in pursuing the case, which also involved certain top ranking officers.

"Previously, we were skeptical about the police's commitment to resolve this case, but now that Pak Yusuf has taken over the position we have some hope," Neta told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Neta added that the money laundering case was a test of National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto's commitment in curbing rampant corruption.

The Financial Transactions and Report Analysis Center (PPATK) last week submitted to the National Police a report on money laundering allegedly committed by 15 serving police officers, including some police generals. The PPATK said that suspicious transactions had occurred in the bank accounts of the officers and that the amount of money involved was "huge", much higher than the salaries of even police generals.

Neither the police nor the PPATK, Indonesia's anti-money laundering watchdog, have disclosed the names of the officers.

After receiving the report, Sutanto immediately ordered the internal affairs division to investigate the accounts, although this decision disappointed many observers who said that the police should have handed over the matter to the prestigious Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which has won praise for its handling of several high-profile graft cases.

Resolving the money laundering case was crucial to show the international community that Indonesia was serious in supporting the global fight against money laundering.

Although the country has been removed from the list of non- cooperative countries and territories in the fight against money laundering since February this year, this status is still subject to periodic review by the Financial Action Task Force, an anti- money laundering watchdog of developed nations.

Critics have expressed concerns over the poor enforcement of anti-money laundering laws, as evidenced by the fact that until now no money laundering cases reported by PPATK have ever been brought to court, despite Indonesia being regarded as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Corruption and a lack of cooperation, either within law enforcement agencies such as the police and Attorney General's Office or within financial services companies themselves, are responsible for the miserably poor enforcement of the anti-money laundering law.

Elsewhere, Neta said that to regain public confidence, the police must be able to show significant and fast progress in investigating the money laundering case involving the 15 police officers.

"The police should have been able to decide whether these officers were involved in money laundering, corruption, or not.

"If no steps are taken by the police within 30 days, then other anticorruption bodies such as the KPK should take over the case," Neta explained.

Deputy head of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) Lucky Djani also made similar comments.

"The officers should have found evidence from the preliminary investigation whether the suspicious transactions found in the 15 accounts came from money laundering, bribery or legitimate income. If they can't do that then they'd better hand it over to KPK," Lucky told The Post.

"KPK and PPATK here hold important positions in helping the government to curb corruption in the country.

"I believe that the 15 suspicious account are just the tip of the iceberg and that PPATK should also check other bank accounts owned by government officials as well as military officers, and these should be investigated by the KPK if President Susilo (Bambang Yudhoyono) is serious about his antigraft campaign," Lucky said.