RI urged to do more to curb money laundering
RI urged to do more to curb money laundering
Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money-laundering
watchdog that has listed Indonesia as a non-cooperative nation in
the fight against the practice, has issued recommendations that
would enable the country to get off the list.
The recommendations were conveyed at a plenary meeting of FATF
on July 2 in Paris, said Yunus Husein, chairman of the Financial
Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) antimoney-
laundering agency.
"It mainly centers on three issues; Indonesia must improve its
performance in the prosecuting of money-laundering cases, setting
up cooperation with similar agencies overseas, and improving the
monitoring scheme of the country's financial system," Yunus said
on Tuesday, adding that the efforts should make the antimoney-
laundering drive more effective.
On the first issue, PPATK deputy chairman I Made Sadguna said
the country -- via the National Police and Attorney's General
Office -- had yet to complete investigation of cases related to
the laundering of ill-gotten money.
"Including the high-profile case of BNI, which has drawn
serious attention from the international community," he added,
referring to the bank's much-publicized Rp 1.7 trillion lending
scam.
Law No. 25/2003 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.
The PPATK, established two years ago, is tasked with
collecting, recording and analyzing all information reported by
financial service providers in the form of suspicious transaction
reports (STR) and cash transaction reports (CTR). Reports that
indicate crimes will be forwarded to the police or the Attorney
General's Office for further investigation.
As of July 6, the PPATK has received 471 reports of suspicious
transactions from the country's banks and non-bank financial
institutions. "Of which 295 have been forwarded to the police,"
Sadguna said.
"The lack of legal action is one reason why Indonesia is still
on the FATF list of non-cooperative countries or territories
(NCCTs)," he added.
Being on the list, Indonesia could face FATF countermeasures,
which include imposition of premium charges on transactions with
foreign companies, halting correspondence between Indonesian
banks and their counterparts in developed countries and rejecting
Indonesian letters of credit.
As to improving the monitoring scheme, Yunus said, the PPATK
was working together with Bank Indonesia and the Capital Market
Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) to create rulings requiring banks
and other financial institutions to undergo a compliance audit to
oversee their compliance to the anti money-laundering drive.
"On-site examination is also part of this effort," Yunus
added.