Mahfud MD Reminds No Officials To Challenge The Disclosure Of Money Laundering Cases
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD reminded that government officials and the public, including lawyers, should not hinder efforts to uncover cases of money laundering (TPPU).
The reason is that the act of obstructing the disclosure of cases is part of a criminal act so that the perpetrators can be charged by law.
"The proof is that Setnov's lawyer (Setya Novanto) did not steal anything. (He) only said that Setnov should not be investigated. Setnov was not wrong, instead he was said to be sick, what was he said. (Finally) he was arrested and he was sentenced to 7 years in prison," Mahfud said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, June 8.
Mahfud, who also serves as the Head of the Steering Team of the Money Laundering Crime Task Force (TPPU), explained that money laundering is an extraordinary crime, because it eats away at state money.
"Try to imagine the case of Rafael Alun, which was triggered by his son's abuse of other people, and then questioned his assets, he said, was Rp56 billion, after which Rp500 billion was found. Now, 2'3 days, new news from the KPK has always appeared again, and Rafael Alun's assets are confiscated, which are suspected of being laundered in Central Java, then tomorrow there will be more. That's money laundering, confiscated," said Mahfud MD.
He further gave an example of other money laundering cases.
Lukas Enembe, many have been confiscated. Originally he was made a defendant with the suspicion of accepting bribes of Rp1 billion. Then it was crowded with all of them, now tens of billions have been confiscated, because only anglers are Rp1 billion. Even people who will hinder the investigation are now suspects," said Mahfud MD.
From the cases of TPPU disclosure, Mahfud again reminded government officials and lawyers not to try to obstruct the disclosure of cases.
"If it gets in the way, it can be considered to have committed the same corruption," he said.
In the same press conference, TPPU Task Force Expert Faisal Basri agreed with Mahfud's statement. He asked the public to support and participate in overseeing the work of the TPPU Task Force.
"Don't play around with one force to prevent or even try to freeze this case. The case that is being handled by the prosecutor's office is frozen, handled by the KPK, specifically for this gold. Please support all of the community," said Faisal Basri.
He said the TPPU Task Force together with the community were fighting efforts that tried to hinder and stop the disclosure of money laundering cases in Indonesia.
VOIR éGALEMENT:
The TPPU Task Force, which was formed by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD last month, investigated suspicious transactions sourced from 300 PPATK reports. The report has been submitted to agencies at the Ministry of Finance, and law enforcement officials such as the police and the prosecutor's office have a total transaction value of IDR 349 trillion.
Within a month of its formation, the TPPU Task Force set 18 reports as a priority to be examined, because the significant value reached 80 percent of the total transaction or IDR 281.6 trillion.
Of the 18 reports, 10 of them have been submitted by PPATK to the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Ministry of Finance, the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance, and the Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Finance.
Meanwhile, eight other reports have been submitted by PPATK to the police and the prosecutor's office.
The TPPU Task Force, which is reinforced by 12 experts, has a working period until December 31, 2023 to investigate 300 suspicious transaction reports issued by PPATK.