Thomas Rizal, Jakarta – An analyst recently said that former Chief Security Affairs Minister Mohammad Mahfud MD should reveal what his task force had discovered regarding money laundering suspicions at the Finance Ministry.
Last year, Mahfud MD set up a money laundering task force aimed at investigating suspicious transactions worth a whopping Rp 349 trillion ($21 billion) at the Finance Ministry. Mahfud then disbanded this eight-month-old task force in January before he stepped down from his ministerial post to focus on his campaign as a running mate for presidential hopeful Ganjar Pranowo.
However, Mahfud never really revealed the task force's findings, including the suspects and how much money the country had lost. The case now seems to have disappeared into thin air.
Legal expert Abdul Fickar Hadjar is now urging Mahfud MD to disclose the task force's findings.
"The task force – alongside the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center [PPATK] – should have announced their findings, which can then be handed over to the Attorney General's Office, the Police, or even the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK]. So the law enforcement agencies can take care of it," Fickar said.
When announcing what the task force had achieved back in January, Mahfud said at the time that they decided to take care of the case involving the Finance Ministry internally. He added that the task force had done its job, including uncovering the Rp 189 trillion illegal gold import involving SB Group.
Former commander-in-chief Hadi Tjahjanto is now the current chief security affairs minister. According to Fickar, Mahfud can nudge his successor Hadi to follow up on the case.
Fickar added: "Mahfud now has no authority, but he can still remind those in the government regarding the case. He could have sent a letter [to the government] to follow up the money laundering findings."