S'pore aid sought in BNI case

S'pore aid sought in BNI case

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta

Indonesia's antimoney-laundering agency expected its Singaporean
counterpart to be more cooperative in its investigation into the
Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) case, upon learning that some of the
ill-gotten funds had been channeled to several banks in the city-
state.

Yunus Husein, chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports
Analysis Center (PPATK), said on Thursday that the Suspicious
Transaction Reporting Office (STRO) had refused to trace the flow
of BNI funds.

STRO is the city-state's version of PPATK.

"That could spell problems for Indonesia's efforts to recover
the misused funds," Yunus said, adding that it could derail
efforts to punish the perpetrators.

Yunus said some of the funds had been used in financial
transactions involving more than 10 accounts at a number of banks
in Singapore.

He refused to name the banks or the amounts involved.

"We sent STRO a letter asking about the identities of the
owners of the accounts and where the funds went from there. But
they said they couldn't do that as it required the consent of the
account holders," he said, citing the banking secrecy code.

The Rp 1.7 trillion BNI graft case involves 17 people
suspects, three of whom have already been tried at court. Less
than a quarter of the funds have been recovered.

Unless solid evidence of money laundering is presented to the
Singaporeans, there is not much they can do about it, Yunus
continued.

The PPATK 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 a crime are forwarded to the police or
the Attorney General's Office for further investigation.

According to Law No. 25/2003, money laundering is defined as
the practice of converting money generated from unlawful
practices including corruption, bribery, smuggling, banking-
related crimes, drug-related crimes, people trafficking, gambling
and terrorism into legal investments.

Yunus said tough crackdowns on cases like BNI would put the
country -- which has been included on the list of uncooperative
nations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the fight
against money laundering -- into a better position in the eyes of
international community.

Asked what the agency's next step to trace the accounts in
Singapore would be, Yunus said the PPAT was seeking ways to work
it out, including drumming up support from the police and the
Attorney General's Office.

The FATF is a powerful global antimoney-laundering watchdog
set up by developed countries.

Elsewhere, the Supreme Court on Thursday swore in Priyanto,
Susno Duadji and Bambang Setiawan as deputy chairmen of the
PPATK.

"I welcome their appointments. Hopefully their presence will
optimize the role of the PPATK," Yunus, who was present at the
ceremony, said.