20 banks in Indonesia are involved in suspicious transactions by FinCEN’s file version

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – A leaked report released by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) claims that there are 20 banks in Indonesia that are suspected of being the places where suspicious transactions are taking place.

FinCEN itself is a financial intelligence agency under the United States Department of the Treasury. FinCEN’s files record how the world’s banks allegedly spent trillions of US dollars on suspicious transactions.

Reported by Tempo.co on Monday (9/21/2020), FinCEN’s document records that there are 20 banks in Indonesia, both private and state-owned, which are suspected to be the smuggling locations of 496 suspicious transactions as of December 22, 2008 to July 3, 2017.

The total value of odd transactions in the national banking system reached $ 504.6 million, or the equivalent of Rs 7.5 trillion, at an exchange rate of Rs 14,800 to the US dollar. More than half was in money transferred from national banks.

One state-owned bank, for example, registered as a trafficking medium for 111 suspicious transactions with various foreign banks. The total transfer of funds from this bank that FinCEN identified as a suspicious transaction reached US $ 250.39 million or IDR 3.7 trillion.

On the other hand, it was also recorded that banks received suspicious transactions worth 42.34 million US dollars or around 626 million rupees.

A large number of suspicious transactions during FinCEN’s record period also involved other state banks. This financial institution registered in a transaction to transfer funds worth US $ 10.2 million or around IDR 150 billion to an account at a Singapore bank on March 12, 2015.

The head of the Financial Transaction Analysis and Reporting Center, Dian Ediana Rae (PPATK), said her agency was aware of the various suspicious transaction reports found by FinCEN and made sure to follow up on the reports.

Dian did not deny that the anti-money laundering system has not yet been 100 percent immune from the proceeds of crime.

Many things, he said, need to be improved, including in terms of the quality of the reports. Banks, according to Dian, must also fully implement Know Your Customer principles. “This is what we are refining,” he said.

Dian also made sure that PPATK would not tolerate any bank that did not report suspicious transactions.

“That is what is called the criminal act of passive money laundering, you know it but ignore it. We do not tolerate delays, inaccuracies and lack of reports, “he said.