RI told to use treaties to trace assets
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.