Indonesia: Money laundering hard to beat

Dicky Christanto, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

No major progress is evident in Indonesia's fight against money laundering, three years after the financial intelligence agency started work.

Chairman of the Indonesian Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center (PPATK) said Tuesday the government lacked data on money recovered from money laundering.

"This weakness has made it hard for us to show progress. I hope the government will take this into consideration," he said.

When asked about national performance in combating money laundering, Husein said the results were "so-so".

"Of course there have been cases we have managed to tackle, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, but I admit there are many cases unsolved," he said.

Revision of the 2003 money laundering law has been in limbo since last year, as many have opposed expansion of the PPATK's authority. The draft revision requires that professionals and goods and services providers should come within the remit of the PPATK, as well as financial service providers.

PPATK is hosting the third Asia Pacific Group (APG) discussion on money laundering, which opened Tuesday and lasts until Friday.

Yunus said during the four-day event that participants would exchange and update information on money laundering cases, as well as evaluate progress combating it. APG members will evaluate Indonesia's progress report Wednesday.

In his opening remarks, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto said Indonesia was expecting much from the discussions to help improve its efforts to address money laundering.

"We should intensify international cooperation and maintain the speed and accuracy of information exchange through this meeting, as money laundering cannot be conducted within a single jurisdiction, acting alone," Widodo said.

"I hope we will identify innovative strategies to bring about an international community free from money laundering, terrorism and terrorist financing."

Participants included National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Syamsir Siregar, president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Antonio Gustafo Rodriguez and commissioner of the Australian Federal Police Mick Keelty.

The regional discussions are attended by 290 senior officials from 36 member countries and six observers, plus representatives from 19 international organizations.

FATF president Antonio Gustafo Rodriguez expected the conference to help APG formulate mechanisms to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

"A global solution is needed as money laundering and terrorist financing have become a global challenge for us all," he said.

Source: The Jakarta Post