Prompt approval of bill on money laundering sought
Prompt approval of bill on money laundering sought
JAKARTA (JP): The government expects the money laundering
draft bill now being deliberated by the House of Representatives
to be passed this year, as part of the country's commitment to
the international crusade against the crime.
The person in charge of drafting laws and legislation at the
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Sri Hariningsih, said she
hoped the House would accelerate the deliberation and pass the
bill into law this year.
"We badly need such law as there are indications that
Indonesia has become one of the favorable destinations for the
illegal business, despite the fact that we have a responsibility
to our international partners," she said, adding that the bill
was submitted to the House in early June.
Money laundering is the practice of transferring money
obtained from crimes such as corruption, bribery, smuggling,
trade in drugs and psychotropic substances, gambling and
terrorism, into legal investments.
This complex white-collar crime is rampant in developing
countries that lack measures to detect and prevent it.
"We don't want to be branded as noncooperative in the fight
against international organized crime," Hariningsih said during a
workshop on the money laundering bill. The workshop was jointly
held by the Department of Law at the University of Indonesia and
the University of South Carolina here on Saturday.
Hariningsih said the bill stipulated the establishment of a
national commission to eradicate money laundering. "The national
commission would uncover evidences related to the crime, in
cooperation with the police and state prosecutors."
"The commission will be authorized to assess suspicious
transactions reported by any financial institution," she said.
According to the bill, possible suspicious transactions are
those equivalent to Rp 100 million (if they involve foreign
currency) or more, either in cash or electronic transactions.
The directorate-general of customs is also required to report
to the commission any cash amounting to Rp 100 million or more
brought into or out of the country.
"Any financial institutions which fail to report to the
commission within 14 days after a suspicious transaction takes
place will receive a sanction, ranging from a warning to the
revocation of their business license," she said.
For those found guilty of money laundering, the bill calls for
sentences of between five years and 15 years, plus fines from Rp
5 billion to Rp 15 billion.
Indonesia has been put on a money laundering blacklist and is
now under the scrutiny of the industrialized countries' Paris-
based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for not doing enough to
curb the internationally organized crime.
The FATF was formed by G-7 member countries in 1989 to fight
money laundering worldwide. The crime is estimated to be a
US$600-billion-a-year enterprise worldwide.
Criminal law expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo warned the draft
bill in the House might not be effective without tight control
over the implementation of bank rulings. "Businesses should also
actively participate in detecting the crime since the law
enforcement institutions here have yet to catch up with
sophisticated crimes."
"Witnesses in (money laundering) cases should be well
protected by the state, since the cases are hard to prosecute due
to a lack of evidence, which is usually neatly concealed,"
Harkristuti remarked.
The central bank's deputy director of legal affairs, Yunus
Husein, told the workshop that Bank Indonesia had introduced a
"Know Your Customer" principle to curb money laundering in the
banking sector.
Hariningsih said the bill would not violate the principle of
banking secrecy or overlap the law on the central bank.
"If there are any conflicting articles in the two laws, then
the law on Bank Indonesia will be adjusted," she said. (bby)