Indonesia: House Under Pressure For Money Laundering Bill

The House of Representatives’ Commission III on law and human rights agreed on Monday to push deliberation of money laundering prevention and eradication bill as international pressure mounts for Indonesia to cooperate in efforts against the crime.

A working party will be set up to discuss the bill, which if approved, would replace a 2002 law. The new law would aim to boost the authority of the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK) in dealing with money laundering cases.

Yunus Husein, PPATK’s head, said the existing law against money laundering did not meet international standards. Unlike in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, for example, only entities dealing with financial issues such as banks, money changers, pension funds, insurance companies and post offices are mandated to report suspect transactions to the PPATK, he said.

Yunus said tainted money could enter business transactions involving property, jewelry and even through certain professions such as the law.

He hoped the House would speed up discussion of the bill, which the government submitted to the House three years ago.

He also said that several political parties had different drafts. One party, he said, opposed a proposal to give PPATK authority to tap a phone conversation, while another wanted to secure financial privacy in bank records.

Yunus said that he did not mind if PPATK were not given authority to tap phones as long as it still could access records from telephone providers or other law enforcers such as the police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

“In the stock exchange, people manipulate trading, but we don’t know who controls the money and it would be hard to prove the transaction link without knowing about the conversation,” he said.

“If we want to know the link, we really need [to know about] the conversation, because money doesn’t talk,” Yunus said.

Andi Mattalatta, the Justice and Human Rights Minister and a Golkar Party member, said that while his party did not believe PPATK should have the authority to tap phone conversations, the Democratic Party believed this should be allowed.

Andi said a proposal from a House faction had asked for the removal of the word “prevention” from the bill’s title, leaving only “eradication,” but he said the term was needed as prevention was more effective in tackling money laundering.

“We still need prevention, because we can only save the state 10 percent if the case has already occurred,” the minister said.

Source: Jakarta Globe