Former PPATK Deputy Urges Team 9 of the Attorney General's Office to Investigate the Origin of 74 Kg Gold and Rp476 Billion

Former Jampidsus of the Attorney General's Office (Kejagung) Febrie Adriansyah (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Former Deputy Chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), Agus Santoso, urged the 9th Attorney General's Office (Kejagung) to thoroughly investigate the ownership of assets in the form of 74 kilograms of gold and cash worth Rp476 billion which were found during a search at the residence of the former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) Febrie Adriansyah.

According to Agus, the assets of fantastic value must be thoroughly traced to determine who the real owner is, where it originated, and whether the property has any connection with alleged corruption and money laundering (TPPU) crimes.

"From the news of the raids in several business places and houses related to the ownership of FA assets, it should be traced to prove the ownership of assets that are beyond reasonableness. For example, the ownership of assets of houses and business capital assets concerned," Agus told reporters, Monday, August 3.

Agus explained that one of the initial steps that investigators could take was to match the findings of the assets with the State Fund Manager Wealth Report (LHKPN). According to him, if gold and cash are not listed in the wealth report, it should be a focus of deepening.

"If it is not reported, it can be questioned and investigated about the reason why the assets are not reported in the LHKPN," he said.

In addition, Agus suspected that there was a pattern of placing funds from alleged criminal acts outside the banking system or un-banked placement, including through storage in the form of precious metals. According to him, this pattern is often found in the practice of alleged TPPU.

"This is a pattern of placement outside the bank or is referred to as un-banked placement and precious metal placement pattern," he said.

He added that storing wealth in the form of gold bars and foreign currencies can be a way to disguise the origin of funds while maintaining the value of assets. Therefore, investigators need to delve into the possibility of a business network related to financial transactions and precious metals.

"So if the person in question has a business network in the form of a money changer and a gold shop or gold smelter, it is reasonable to suspect that the person in question and his network have prepared a business ecosystem to carry out money laundering efforts from criminal acts so that they can enter the legitimate economic system," he explained.

Agus also responded to the claim of the lawyer for the suspect Don Ritto who said that the money of Rp. 476 billion and 74 kilograms of gold belonged to his client. According to him, the reason for entrusting assets in very large amounts to other parties needs to be tested legally because it is often found in the pattern of disguising assets from crime.

"The pattern of this TPPU model, which is trying to separate illegal assets and recognized by someone is the simplest pattern," he said.

He is optimistic that the 9th Attorney General's Team will be able to prove the origin of all these assets through the tracing of gold sources, the origin of foreign exchange funds, to documents related to the alleged custody of assets.

"Investigators can easily prove that assets in such a fantastic amount and just idle (idle) stored in the house come from what business activities, gold is obtained from where, which money changer provides foreign exchange cash of such a large amount. Then naturally there must be legal documents about the deposit. Moreover, DR is a lawyer who understands the law who entrusts it in the house or business space owned by FA who is a prosecutor," he said.

Furthermore, Agus hopes that the 9 Attorney General's Team, which consists of a number of senior prosecutors, including those who have served in the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), can work professionally. He also assessed that the support of PPATK in tracing the flow of funds will strengthen the evidence of the case, both related to the original criminal act and the alleged TPPU.

"Moreover, with the help of the PPATK team's tracking of the flow of funds and together building the case building and followed by the trial process before the JPU prepares the prosecution plan, the JPU can certainly uncover and prove the original crime and also the TPPU process," he concluded.

Previously, the search at Febrie Adriansyah's residence was carried out by investigators from the National Police's Corruption and Crime Investigation Unit (Kortastipidkor) together with the Metro Jaya Police. After the handling of the case was transferred to the Attorney General's Office, Team 9 issued a number of new investigation orders (sprindik) to continue the investigation into alleged corruption and TPPU.

The Attorney General's Office also emphasized that the status of the suspect who had been determined against Febrie Adriansyah had not changed and the investigation process would continue in accordance with applicable laws.