UNODC Warning To KPK Regarding Danantara: SWF Gives Opportunities But Also Risks Of Corruption

Erik van der Veen as Head of UNODC Indonesia as well as Liaison to ASEAN during a visit to the KPK's Red and White building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta (Tsa Tsia/VOI)

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is ready to assist the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in preventing corrupt practices targeting state wealth funds or sovereign wealth funds (SWF) as managed by the Anagata Nusantara Fund Investment Management Agency (BPI Danantara).

This was conveyed by Erik van der Veen as Head of UNODC Indonesia as well as Liaison to ASEAN during a visit to the KPK's Red and White building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta on Tuesday, April 16.

"I want to convey that sovereign wealth funds are a mechanism that can open up many opportunities but also have a risk of corruption," said Erik as quoted from the KPK's official written statement, Monday, April 20.

Erik said UNODC has shared experiences with many countries about SWF. "If you are interested in comparing research or policy diagnosis, we are ready to support it," he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman Agus Joko Pramono stated that his party really wanted to discuss preventing corruption related to the SWF. This is because Indonesia has just formed BPI Danantara in the era of President Prabowo Subianto's administration.

In addition, the anti-corruption commission has also had good cooperation with UNODC since it was signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) or memorandum of understanding on June 4, 2008.

Among them are technical assistance in developing whistleblower systems for the KPK Council to workshops on information exchange and collaboration between agencies for corruption investigations and money laundering (TPPU) crimes.

"Most recently, UNODC is also assisting the KPK through the Legal Bureau regarding the revision of the Corruption Act," said Agus.

Closing the meeting, the KPK and UNODC agreed to meet again in the near future. Agus said this step is to further strengthen cooperation and harmonize cooperation in the future.

"We will meet in other technical meetings, and our cooperation should be in line with what we have talked about and planned. I think that is an important conclusion and will be discussed further in the next discussion at the upcoming meeting," he said.

On that occasion, the KPK submitted a report on the results of the collaboration between Stranas PK and UNODC during 2023 2024 and a collaboration between the KPK Supervisory Board (Dewas) for the 2019 period 2024 with UNODC. There are a number of data-based recommendations from the Regional Government Information System (SIPD) as well as proposals to strengthen the role of the KPK Council which refers to the practice of anti-corruption agencies in Malaysia and Hong Kong.