PPATK, tax office boost anti-money laundering drive
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The country's anti-money laundering watchdog and tax office signed on Tuesday an agreement aimed at creating a more effective and efficient implementation of the Money Laundering Law, especially in relation to taxation crimes.
The agreement was signed by Yunus Husein, chairman of the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK), and Hadi Purnomo, Director General of Taxation.
Both Yunus and Hadi said that the agreement would allow various form of partnerships between the two institutions, including training, information sharing, staff education and staff exchange.
The two also agreed that stronger cooperation would form a sound foundation for similar cooperation with other institutions in line with the country's intensified efforts against money laundering.
PPATK, which was established in April 2002, is tasked with collecting, recording and analyzing all information reported by financial service providers, both as suspicious transaction reports (STR) and cash transaction reports (CTR). Reports which indicate criminal activity will be forwarded to the police, or the Attorney General's Office, for further investigation.
The Paris-based global anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has listed Indonesia among the uncooperative countries and territories (NCCTs) in the fight against money laundering since June 2001, together with seven other countries.
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.
Elsewhere, Tuesday's deal will allow the tax office to provide assistance to PPATK in helping the money laundering watch dog detect suspicious financial transactions.
The tax office currently has a division in charge of such a task.
The signing was a follow up to what had been stated in the post-International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, called the White Paper, which stipulates that such cooperation between the two has to begin on Oct. 30 at the latest.