Indonesia Gets Tougher Against Money Laundering

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- As an added measure to detect and prevent money laundering, Indonesia has enforced regulations requiring motor vehicle dealers, property agents and precious metal sellers to report transactions totalling 500 million rupiah (RM171,070) and above in a single day. The transactions must be reported to the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK). PPATK chief Muhammad Yusuf said the regulations were enforced because the modus operandi of money laundering has since changed and is no longer confined to business in the financial services industry such as banking, insurance and stock market. Money laundering has now crept into the non-financial services industry, involving vehicle dealers, jewellers, property agents, law firms and public accountancy firms, he was quoted as saying to the local media. PPATK has yet to enforce regulations requiring reports on suspicious transactions in the legal and public accountancy sectors, but it is empowered to obtain data and information on transactions from associations governing these professions. Indonesia had enforced regulations since 2002 requiring traders in the financial services to report suspicious transactions to the PPATK. -- BERNAMA