Uncovering corruption money

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 04/12/2010 10:12 AM

“The road to economic hell is paved with failed anticorruption campaigns”, Berlin-based Transparency International used to say in amplifying the devastating damage corruption could inflict on a nation’s economy.

Indonesia could also fall into such a dead end if the anticorruption campaign is not stepped up amid the mounting malfeasance within the government.

Fighting corruption was on the top of the campaign platform of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004 and again in last July’s presidential elections.

Yet the anticorruption efforts have not been as strong and concerted as expected because they lack crucial political and institutional support.

All the laws needed to make anti-graft reforms effective have been in place but their enforcement has been acutely devoid of leadership and political resolve.

The latest case in point is the persistently feeble enforcement of the 2002 Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Law because its implementing agency, the financial intelligence unit (PPATK), has no law-enforcement mandate.

The PPATK only collects, analyzes and investigates financial transactions suspected of money laundering, based on tips provided by financial institutions and other related agencies and then passes the information on to the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office.

However, it has been almost eight frustrating years for the PPATK because of the acute lack of cooperation on the part of law enforcement agencies to follow up the suspicious transactions it has reported.

The US$3.08 million money-laundering case involving junior tax auditor Gayus Tambunan, which has made headlines for the last two weeks and led to the uncovering of widespread judicial corruption involving the police, public prosecutors and judges, was based on information provided by PPATK.

But this high-profile case is only one of tens of thousands of suspicious transactions through banks which have been reported by the PPATK.

In a yet more shocking revelation, PPATK chief Yunus Husein said Tuesday that in March 2009 he had reported to the National Police chief several suspicious transactions in the bank accounts of a retired senior tax official, many times larger than Tambunan’s, but no follow-up measures had been taken.

The National Police defensively said reports from the PPATK were not sufficient for building a case because the predicate crimes from which the money was derived had to be established first.

But this is nonsense. In fact, the anti-money laundering law could be used as a powerful instrument to uncover corruption money because the burden of proof falls on the suspect or defendant, who must convincingly prove, with the support of necessary documents, that the money flowing into their bank accounts is legitimate or derived from legal means.

It is a 99.99 percent chance that unusually big money flows into the bank accounts of Indonesian officials are from corruption or ill-gotten money. What else could it be because the highest monthly salaries of civil servants in the country do not exceed Rp 65 million ($6,500).

We believe in the high credibility of the PPATK reports because its legal and financial experts file only those cases with strong indications of money laundering. Given the non-cooperative attitude-or even resistance-on the part of law-enforcing bodies, we support PPATK’s initiative to also submit its reports on suspicious transactions to the minister or chief of the internal control departments in ministries where those suspected of money laundering work.

PPATK’s reports on suspicious transactions through bank accounts of civil servants, especially those in positions prone to corruption, could even serve as an early-warning signal for the internal control departments of government offices.