The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center said on Wednesday that it had detected thousands of “suspicious transactions” involving bank accounts belonging to numerous local administration officials across Indonesia.
“In total, there are 2,392 suspicious transaction reports, not only [related to] regional heads but also treasurers and financial officers of regional administrations. This has occurred all across Indonesia,” said Yunus Husein, head of the center known as the PPATK.
The transactions involved government officials “on all levels,” he said.
“A lot of them either use their own private bank accounts, their children’s, their wives’ and others,” Yunus added.
He said those deviations fell under the 2010 Law on Money Laundering.
Paragraph 5 of Article 1 of the law describes four separate categories of suspicious financial transactions — those that deviate from normal patterns or characteristics of the user concerned; those that are conducted presumably to avoid reporting one’s financial wealth; those involving assets that are most likely derived from crime; and those that are specifically requested by the PPATK to be reported on by financial institutions.
Yunus added that the PPATK was coordinating with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in following up on the reports. However, he declined to provide specifics on the amount of money involved in the suspicious transactions detected.
“I believe divulging such information can be misleading. I have in any case met with Home Affairs Minister [Gamawan Fauzi] to discuss the matter,” Yunus said.
Gamawan said he had not received all the information from Yunus, but he promised “to get into it.”
“I will get into all of it with the [ministry’s] inspectorate general, particularly if there is anything suspicious found in the transactions involving regional bank accounts,” Gamawan said.
Subintoro, director of monitoring and compliance at the PPATK, said the suspect transactions involved funds from the state budget and regional budgets.
“This can indicate corruption — when a state loss is incurred, or when a certain party gained an advantage,” Subintoro said.
He added that the PPATK was coordinating with the KPK since the antigraft commission was authorized to investigate cases of money laundering.
“Starting from this year both institutions will have a joint, secure online database that enables faster information sharing and easier coordination,” Subintoro said .
During an antigraft seminar on Tuesday, Gamawan announced that around 160 active and former regional heads had been convicted or declared as suspects in corruption cases since 2004.
“In total, we have 524 regional heads and 160 of them are problematic. On average, every month we find out about a regional head being involved in corruption,” he said, adding that the ministry had detected 18 modes of corruption used by local administrations.
“We have 40 accountants at provincial levels to help with local finance management . Local governments are also urged to use experts from the BPKP [State Development Finance Comptroller],” he said.
In the latest corruption scandal involving government figures, a number of officials from Batubara district in North Sumatra have been named suspects in the alleged embezzlement of Rp 80 billion ($9.4 million).
They are suspected of secretly transferring government funds from state-owned Bank Sumut to Bank Mega after bank executives reportedly persuaded Batubara officials to buy high-return securities.
“In total, there are 2,392 suspicious transaction reports, not only [related to] regional heads but also treasurers and financial officers of regional administrations. This has occurred all across Indonesia,” said Yunus Husein, head of the center known as the PPATK.
The transactions involved government officials “on all levels,” he said.
“A lot of them either use their own private bank accounts, their children’s, their wives’ and others,” Yunus added.
He said those deviations fell under the 2010 Law on Money Laundering.
Paragraph 5 of Article 1 of the law describes four separate categories of suspicious financial transactions — those that deviate from normal patterns or characteristics of the user concerned; those that are conducted presumably to avoid reporting one’s financial wealth; those involving assets that are most likely derived from crime; and those that are specifically requested by the PPATK to be reported on by financial institutions.
Yunus added that the PPATK was coordinating with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in following up on the reports. However, he declined to provide specifics on the amount of money involved in the suspicious transactions detected.
“I believe divulging such information can be misleading. I have in any case met with Home Affairs Minister [Gamawan Fauzi] to discuss the matter,” Yunus said.
Gamawan said he had not received all the information from Yunus, but he promised “to get into it.”
“I will get into all of it with the [ministry’s] inspectorate general, particularly if there is anything suspicious found in the transactions involving regional bank accounts,” Gamawan said.
Subintoro, director of monitoring and compliance at the PPATK, said the suspect transactions involved funds from the state budget and regional budgets.
“This can indicate corruption — when a state loss is incurred, or when a certain party gained an advantage,” Subintoro said.
He added that the PPATK was coordinating with the KPK since the antigraft commission was authorized to investigate cases of money laundering.
“Starting from this year both institutions will have a joint, secure online database that enables faster information sharing and easier coordination,” Subintoro said .
During an antigraft seminar on Tuesday, Gamawan announced that around 160 active and former regional heads had been convicted or declared as suspects in corruption cases since 2004.
“In total, we have 524 regional heads and 160 of them are problematic. On average, every month we find out about a regional head being involved in corruption,” he said, adding that the ministry had detected 18 modes of corruption used by local administrations.
“We have 40 accountants at provincial levels to help with local finance management . Local governments are also urged to use experts from the BPKP [State Development Finance Comptroller],” he said.
In the latest corruption scandal involving government figures, a number of officials from Batubara district in North Sumatra have been named suspects in the alleged embezzlement of Rp 80 billion ($9.4 million).
They are suspected of secretly transferring government funds from state-owned Bank Sumut to Bank Mega after bank executives reportedly persuaded Batubara officials to buy high-return securities.
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