PPATK, CIFOR team up in antimoney-laundering drive
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A partnership was formed on Friday between the country's antimoney-laundering watchdog and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) to intensify the drive against the laundering of profits derived from illegal logging.
The partnership arrangement, which is based on a Memorandum of Understanding, will be translated into a number of activities, including data-sharing, training, exchanges of experts and the formulation of guidelines to help financial institutions identify money-laundering activities and eventually prevent them.
The MOU was signed by the chairman of the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK), Yunus Husein, and CIFOR Director General David Kaimowitz.
"This MOU is of great importance as we all know how illegal logging is flourishing in this country, and generating trillions of rupiah in profits.
"And it's impossible that none of this ill-gotten money is not passing through our financial institutions -- in this case, the banks," Yunus told a press gathering after the MOU signing ceremony.
Kaimowitz echoed Yunus' comments on the importance of the MOU, saying that it was time to tackle illegal logging by acting against its proceeds.
"Usually people follow the logs. Many are not aware that we can also reduce illegal logging by following the profits it generates," he said.
The country's forests, once some of the largest and richest in the world, are now suffering from rapid and seemingly unstoppable deforestation, mainly at the hands of illegal loggers.
According to CIFOR data, of a total of 70 million cubic meters of timber consumed annually by domestic industry, some 60 percent to 80 percent of it comes from illegal logging.
Forest clearance is currently happening at such a rapid pace that the country is losing forests the size of the greater Jakarta area every week.
The PPATK, which was established in April 2002, is tasked with collecting, recording and analyzing all information reported by financial service providers in the form of suspicious transaction reports (STR) and cash transaction reports (CTR).
Reports which indicate criminal activity are forwarded to the police, or the Attorney General's Office, for further investigation.
Law No. 25/2003 on Money-Laundering defines money-laundering as the practice of converting money generated from corruption, bribery, smuggling, banking-related crimes, drug-related crimes, people trafficking, gambling and terrorism into legal investments.
The PPATK has wide-ranging powers. It can conduct audits on banks and other financial institutions, and freeze the assets of suspects after having reported a suspicious transaction to investigators.
It is also allowed to conduct wire taps and make voice and other recordings. Once a person has been charged as a suspect, the burden of proof is reversed and he or she has to prove his or her innocence.