Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD and Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani Indrawati are committed to improving financial transactions at the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu). Mahfud revealed that the improvement efforts made by Sri Mulyani are currently going well. In a press conference at the Kemenkeu Office, Jakarta, Saturday (March 11, 2023), Mahfud said that he and Sri Mulyani will ensure that these improvements continue.

"We are committed to continuing the improvement efforts that have been carried out at the Ministry of Finance. Sri Mulyani and I will ensure that this is carried out properly," he said.

According to Mahfud, he has read the financial transaction data at the Ministry of Finance in detail and assesses that there is a difference between PPATK and Kemenkeu data regarding reports of suspicious transactions that still need to be clarified. Mahfud mentioned that Sri Mulyani has said that all reports have been responded to, while PPATK may not have responded correctly. Therefore, Mahfud plans to conduct further clarification and make a classification on how to consider the response to the report complete or sufficiently notified that it has begun to be examined.

Previously, Sri Mulyani asked the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) to provide detailed data on suspicious transactions worth IDR 300 trillion within the Ministry of Finance. According to her, the report received did not include details regarding the transaction, so she did not yet know the origin of the transaction. She asked PPATK to open the transaction data in detail, starting from the value per transaction, the source of the transaction, to who was involved.

Sri Mulyani also stated that the Ministry of Finance is very open if data from these suspicious transactions can become legal evidence to facilitate prosecution. She has assigned the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Inspector General of the Ministry of Finance, the Director General of Taxes, and the Director General of Customs and Excise to follow up if there is new data related to transactions at the Ministry of Finance.

In an effort to improve financial transactions at the Ministry of Finance, Sri Mulyani and Mahfud are committed to making the necessary improvements. Both will ensure that financial transactions at the Ministry of Finance run well and ensure that reports of suspicious transactions can be followed up properly.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD revealed that the modus operandi of money laundering in ministries varies. One of them is by creating shell companies to hoard money. Mahfud said that there are ministry officials who buy projects and create shell companies to store money which then accumulates there. His wife creates various unclear businesses with no clear customers. (ai)