---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ++ Pemilu Online: http://www.indo-news.com/pemilu/ ++ ---------------------------------------------------------- Jakarta Post, June 7, 1999 RI 'able to enter' Swiss, Austrian bank secrecy Jakarta (JP): The Indonesian government has claimed to be able to penetrate bank secrecy in Switzerland and Austria on cases related to money laundering, including the allegedly ill-gotten wealth owned by former president Soeharto and his family. "After Switzerland, finally Austria is willing to fully help open its bank secrecy to customers who are believed to have made deposit from money laundering practices," Minister of Justice Muladi told Antara in Vienna, Austria, on Friday evening. "Moreover, the two countries are also willing to closely cooperate in the future," he said, adding that such a help was not limited to the provision of data on the alleged ill-gotten wealth of Soeharto and his family. Muladi, Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib and banking expert Sutan Remy Syahdeini are in Austria on a mission to trace the whereabouts of a US$9 billion transfer allegedly made by the Soehartos from a Swiss bank, as reported recently by Time magazine. Muladi said that in the meetings with high-ranking officials of both Swiss and Austrian justice ministries, attorney general's offices, police and central banks, both sides have agreed to help Indonesia uncover the money laundering practices. In a meeting with Austrian Attorney General Gottfried Shasser and Central Bank Governor Klaus Liebscher on Friday morning, for example, it was agreed that Indonesia should sent an official letter requiring the opening up of the bank secrecy in the country toward the possibility of money laundering practices and other crimes conducted by certain customers, Muladi said. "The letter from Indonesia will be answered in the form of written documents so as to enable them to be used as evidence in the Indonesian court. Principally, the two sides agreed that the money laundering practices are part of transnational crimes which must be wiped out," he said. Muladi, who is a former rector of the Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, explained that the contents of the official letters from the two countries cannot be disclosed as they were to be sent to President B.J. Habibie first. "This night we will compile complete reports to the President to be handed over to him directly several hours after voting on Monday. On the same day, or at least on Tuesday, I will hold a media conference at the State Secretariat," he said. Muladi, who is also a former member of the National Commission on Human Rights, said that Indonesia could be said to have made a kind of new precedence in penetrating the bank secrecy linked to money laundering practices because such a process was usually done by private consultants in an arduous and time- consuming way and at great expense. Besides, according Swiss banking history, secret data could be opened and savings cashed only after customers were found guilty in line with a court verdict, he said. Such practices were applied to the savings of Mobutu Sese Seko, former president of Zaire, and Ferdinand Marcos, former president of the Philippines. "The penetration of bank secrecy in Switzerland and Austria did not take place easily because the two countries initially insisted on following existing regulations. But after we forced them to, they agreed, after seeing the seriousness of the Indonesian government, including investigating and trying cronies, family members and Soeharto himself," Muladi was quoted by Antara as saying. Sutan Remy, a banking expert staff to the minister of justice, said that Indonesia's efforts to fight money laundering practices would function as an example for other countries having similar cases. "This is a positive precedence which can be emulated by other countries even though money laundering syndicates will surely used new methods as well. But we should not forget to improve the legal system related to transnational crimes," he said. In Jakarta, a source at the National Police said on Sunday detectives did not know what steps to take to follow up on the legal complaint filed against Time by Soeharto last Wednesday. "We're studying whether there were any criminal breaches in the article," the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Jakarta Post. When asked whether police could summon the magazine's executives for questioning, the source said: "It's not that simple. If we summon people, either witnesses or suspects, we must first known the details of the alleged violations committed." The source also said police had to study the Time article to determine whether it was libelous and deflamatory. "We're still studying it thoroughly," the source said. (hhr/emf) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 11 Jun 1999 jam 14:52:33 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
