Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo speaking at a workshop on money laundering and asset recovery, Thursday (1/27/2022) in Denpasar, Bali. Photo by Humas MK/Hamdi.

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Thursday, January 27, 2022 | 22:08 WIB

DENPASAR, Public Relations—The body of Article 74 of Law No. 8 of 2010 on the Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering (TPPU Law), especially the elucidation, is not in synchrony with its basic norm, said Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo at a workshop on money laundering and asset recovery on Thursday, January 27, 2022 in Denpasar, Bali. The event was collaboration between Attorney General’s Asset Recovery Center and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (USDOJ OPDAT).

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim Polri), the Center for Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the Directorate-General of Taxation (DJP), Bali High Prosecution Office, and East Nusa Tenggara High Prosecution Office attended the event.

“In essence, the basic norm does not limit who the original investigator is, but the elucidation limits it to only six institutions, which were given the mandate to investigate money laundering crimes when they find a predicate crime,” Justice Suhartoyo said.

The Constitutional Court, he said, does not only observe the TPPU Law, but also how a norm should not be against its elucidation and any other norms. Therefore, as the guardian of the Constitution, it believes that the contradicting norm must be amended so it would not be against the Constitution.

“Therefore, the Constitutional Court as the guardian of the Constitution [must strive] to realize laws that do not lead to contradictions, legal uncertainty, injustice, discrimination. So, the Court believes the elucidation to Article 74 [of the TPPU Law] must be made in line with its basic norm,” he said.

With that in mind, the Court ruled to expand the definition of money laundering crime investigators in the elucidation to now include investigators who discovered the predicate crime, rather than only to the Attorney General’s Office, the KPK, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the DJP, the Directorate-General of Customs and Excise, and the Police. However, coordination with police investigators to coordinate and oversee the investigation is imperative.

Justice Suhartoyo added that a crucial consideration in such a case is that the original investigator understands the predicate crime better. The Court’s ruling on Article 74 of the TPPU Law means that the prosecutor may receive a transfer of money laundering case from the investigators of the predicate crime but must cooperate with the police.

He also said that money laundering cases cannot be processed without tangible facts, or when it is only based on information. He revealed that the police typically reject such cases when no hard evidence is available, despite a lot of news circulating.

Civil servant (PNS) investigators in several institutions must be improved because of new characteristics of money laundering crimes. Police investigators have techniques to collect evidence and find suspects, even across countries and in collaboration with other countries.

Justice Suhartoyo also explained that the Constitutional Court’s decision obtains permanent legal force since it is pronounced, including a decision in a judicial review case on the TPPU Law with regard to PNS investigators who discover predicate offenses. He urged prosecutors and money laundering investigators to maintain their passion in performing their duty. Without such passion, they would be better suited to be prosecutors or public investigators.

Writer        : Ilham Wiryadi
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 01/28/2022 13:26 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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