Vice President Gibran: If We Are Serious About Eradicating Corruption, Corruptors Must Be Impoverished

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has again urged the acceleration of the Asset Forfeiture Bill to strengthen the eradication of corruption in Indonesia. Gibran made the statement in a reposted video of an official declaration via his personal social media account, as cited from his official Instagram account in Jakarta on Saturday, 25 July 2026. “If we are truly serious about eradicating corruption, then corruptors must be impoverished. Corruptors must know that corruption crimes not only force them to sleep behind bars, but the state can also reclaim all the assets they have stolen,” said Vice President Gibran. The video post included a note that the content was originally uploaded in February 2026 and was reposted in July 2026. Based on data from Indonesia Corruption Watch for the period 2013 to 2022, he said, potential state losses due to corruption reached Rp238 trillion. Meanwhile, case handling data from the Attorney General’s Office in 2024 recorded potential state losses of Rp310 trillion, yet only Rp1.6 trillion was successfully returned to the state treasury. According to Gibran, the current rate of recovering stolen state assets is very low because more than 90 per cent simply evaporates and continues to be enjoyed by the perpetrators and their relatives. This situation is exacerbated by increasingly organised criminal methods, which are cross-border in nature and utilise the latest technology for embezzlement and money laundering. “The principle is simple: as long as an asset can be proven to originate directly or indirectly from criminal acts such as corruption, narcotics, illegal mining, illegal fishing, illegal logging, online gambling, or human trafficking, the state has the authority to seize that asset to be returned as state property,” he stressed. He explained that the Asset Forfeiture Bill is a crucial step, as well as an embodiment of the 2003 United Nations Convention against Corruption. The regulation governs the mechanism of non-conviction based asset forfeiture, which is considered highly effective for recovering state finances, particularly when the perpetrator has died or fled abroad. Responding to public concerns regarding the potential abuse of authority and violation of the presumption of innocence, the Vice President urged that the bill’s deliberation process be conducted transparently and comprehensively, involving practitioners and professionals.