Before discussing penalties for violating the Anti-Money Laundering Law, it is necessary to understand the purpose of establishing the said law. Money laundering does not only harm economic stability and the integrity of the financial system but can also endanger the very foundations of social, national and international principles based on the Pancasila and the 1945 Indonesian Constitution.
When the law is linked to international geopolitics in economics, finance and banking, one can clearly see its relevance and strategic nature with the three sectors. Criminal conduct, including money laundering, has rapidly grown in the three sectors and may hinder national/international financial governance, a discipline that should be free from corruption, collusion and nepotism.
It can also increase the power to deal with transnational organized crimes with diverse criminal conduct, particularly money laundering, which is the source of income or the heart of organized crime groups.
In practice, prevention strategy is more necessary and actual than enforcement strategy, because the advancement of electronic and information technology in the 20th to 21st centuries allows swift illegal fund transfers. It only takes seconds to transfer money from one country to a safe haven country.
The speedy fund transfer makes tracing and freezing assets from 23 types of money laundering crimes difficult.
Having Anti-Money Laundering Laws does not guarantee the effectiveness and efficiency in fighting these crimes. Advanced technological facilities and infrastructure are needed to foster the strength of the TPPU Law.
The PPATK, as the only institution in charge and authorized to trace suspicious funds, should already have advanced information technology connected with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the banking sector. So, as soon as the PPATK receives a suspicious transaction report from a bank, the KPK simultaneously receives the same report. The KPK can then block the suspected account at the reporting bank.