Explaining Cross-Country Asset Recovery Steps, KPK Alludes To Assets From E-KTP And Garuda Indonesia Corruption Cases

Red and White House (Irfan Meidianto/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) describes efforts to recover state assets or asset recovery for transnational corruption.

This presentation was delivered by the Deputy Chairperson of the KPK, Lili Pintauli Siregar at the annual meeting of The Economic Crime Agencies Network (ECAN). As for acting as the host is the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

In her presentation, Lili said that the KPK and law enforcers from other countries who are members of ECAN have worked together and obtained a number of results.

One of them, the United States government has approved Indonesia's petition to release assets of suspects who violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in bribery and money laundering cases handled by the FBI.

Lili said that through this petition, Indonesia asked the United States government to facilitate the return of assets worth USD 5.9 million back to Indonesia. The assets are related to the e-KTP mega-corruption case handled by the KPK in 2017 and in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

"These assets are the result of a criminal act of corruption involving high-ranking Indonesian officials and are the result of a parallel investigation between the KPK and the FBI," said Lili as quoted from her written statement quoted on Friday, March 17.

He explained that currently investigations into the corruption of e-KTP which cost the state up to Rp. 2.3 trillion were still being carried out. In fact, the KPK is now pursuing a perpetrator who is abroad, namely the President Director of PT Sandipala Arthapura, Paulus Tanos.

"The investigation into the E-KTP case is still ongoing at the KPK. One suspect in this case is domiciled abroad and is a fugitive from Indonesia," he said.

Not only that, this collaboration has also succeeded in investigating corruption in the procurement of aircraft engines at the state-owned company, PT Garuda Indonesia, which involved its top brass, including its former president director, Emirsyah Satar.

Lili said this case was the result of a joint investigation by the KPK with Singapore's CPIB and the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for bribery and foreign corruption cases. The reason is that this case involves a public company in the UK and an Indonesian airline.

Then the KPK opened an investigation into Emirsyah for accepting bribes from the British company. Until finally, the Indonesian court has issued a decision to confiscate Emirsyah's assets in Singapore.

"Currently, the confiscation of assets is in the process of being brought through the MLA route from the Indonesian Central Authority to the Singapore Attorney General's Office," said Lili.

Finally, the KPK also explained the report on the results of sharing information between ECAN members. Throughout 2021, the KPK has followed up on a number of requests for assistance from ECAN member Jurisdictions. On the other hand, the KPK has also submitted a number of requests for assistance to these ECAN countries.

This inter-state cooperation includes coordination and extensive information exchange to support the investigation and prosecution process.

For information, ECAN is a forum for cooperation at the operational level in preventing, investigating, adjudicating cross-jurisdictional economic crimes as well as a means of sharing intelligence information.

The theme of the 2022 ECAN meeting is "Economic Crimes That Endanger National Security".

In addition to the KPK from Indonesia, ECAN also has members from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the City of London Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) Singapore.

Then there is the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Australian Federal Police (AFP), and the World Bank's Integrity Vice Presidency.

As an active member, in 2018 Indonesia even had the opportunity to become Chair of ECAN which was held in Bali in March 2018.