Quick resolution sought in BNI case

Quick resolution sought in BNI case

Tony Hotland, Jakarta

The Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK) has
blamed the government's lack of political will and effort in
curbing money-laundering here as the reasons why Indonesia was
still considered an uncooperative country.

PPATK director Yunus Husein said on Wednesday that Indonesia
had still not been taken off the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF)'s list of uncooperative countries and territories in the
global fight against money-laundering.

"Indonesia is still on the list (of uncooperative countries).
If the government were to act quickly to resolve money-laundering
cases, such as the BNI case, we would have some success stories
that we could sell," said Yunus before a closed-door meeting with
the House of Representatives' finance commission to discuss the
BNI case.

He said that the BNI scandal was one of the things discussed
during the FATF regional meeting in Korea from June 14 to June
18.

The Paris-based FATF is a global money-laundering watchdog set
up by the developed nations grouped in the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Indonesia has been
on the FATF's list of uncooperative countries and territories
(NCCTs) since June 2001.

The possible sanctions that could be imposed against Indonesia
include the imposition of premium charges on transactions with
foreign companies, the halting of correspondence between
Indonesian banks and their counterparts in FATF countries and the
rejection of Indonesian letters of credit (L/Cs)

The BNI scandal centered in the extension of export credit
facilities last year to a number of local firms that claimed they
were exporting commodities to certain African countries. But the
facilities were provided without proper prior credit appraisals,
and it turned out that the documents used to obtain the letters
of credit were fake and that there were, in fact, no exports
involved.

More than six months after the case, BNI claims that the
recovery rate for the lost money, which amounted to some Rp 1.7
trillion (US$180.85 million), is still zero. None of the suspects
has been punished, and the prime suspect, Maria Pauline Lumowa,
was allowed to flee the country.

Yunus said that the PPATK had received some suspicious
transaction reports related to BNI's missing millions, some of
which had been transferred overseas.

He urged the police to speed up their investigation and work
together with the countries where the money had been parked.