PPATK, tax office boost anti-money laundering drive
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.