RI told to use treaties to trace assets
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia should use the existing international treaties on corruption and money laundering when trying to trace and recover assets from criminals internationally, a financial crimes expert said.
Beside pushing for better cooperation with other countries, the corruption and money laundering special advisor for Norway, Eva Joly, also stressed the importance of a better coordination among authorities to properly identify, investigate and prosecute money laundering-related crimes.
Speaking at a workshop on money laundering on Thursday, Joly urged the government to cooperate with the international community to trace and recover assets belonging to convicted criminals according to available international conventions.
"Indonesia should ask for help from other countries in a legal way," she said.
She pointed to the 2003 United Nations (UN) Convention on Corruption, which stipulates that every UN member must respond to requests from other members relating to funds in their borders obtained by corruption and fully assist them in prosecuting the crimes.
"The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s Recommendation also says that bank secrecy acts must not hinder investigations into money laundering on the basis of privacy, as not all bank accounts contain personal information," she said.
The FATF is a global money laundering watchdog set up by developed nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Indonesia was recently dropped from its lists of non- cooperative countries and territories.
Indonesian Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK) head Yunus Hussein said ill-gotten funds from Indonesia were usually funneled to Singapore, Australia, the United States and Switzerland.
So far, Singapore has been the most difficult country to cooperate in PPATK's efforts to trace and recover the assets.
"We have approached Singapore several times but it is still reluctant to sign a memorandum of understanding with us," he said.
PPATK currently has information sharing agreements with the financial intelligence units of Australia, Belgium, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Romania and Thailand.
Joly said Indonesia must also show its seriousness if it wants Singapore to respond.
Citing an example, she explained a case when FATF blacklisted Liechtenstein when it had refused to help her investigate ill- gotten funds allegedly funneled by an executive with French oil company Elf to certain banks.
"I went to the French parliament who was interested in the scandal and told them that Liechtenstein was not cooperative concerning information about the accounts," she said.
FATF, whose members includes France, then blacklisted Liechtenstein, forcing the country to comply and help Joly.
Therefore, she said, coordination among PPATK, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and law enforcers was also essential.
"The police and prosecutors need better training to enable them to identify money laundering cases and secure evidence," she said.