UNODC second Talk Series event focuses on asset recovery in Indonesia
Jakarta (Indonesia), 2 April 2010 - Arif Havas Oegroseno, the Director-General for Law and International Treaties of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the speaker at this month's event as part of a series of talks organized by UNODC on the fight against corruption. "Indonesia's experience in asset recovery" was the topic of the second talk in 2010.
Underlining the importance of international cooperation, Mr. Havas said that corruption was a commonplace problem in all corners of the world, regardless of the ideology, legal-political system or economic development of the country or region, and that barriers remained in terms of law, political will, economic convenience and also perception.
With regard to asset recovery, Mr. Havas pointed out that the difficulties faced by Indonesia were related to the rigid and inward looking policy imposed by some foreign jurisdictions. He also raised the issue of "disclosure orders" in dealing with asset recovery cases, saying that "disclosure of information is an important element to help the requesting country in building a case and establishing a link between the alleged offences and the said assets". He added that if a freezing order is not coupled with a disclosure order, it would only prolong the withholding of the assets.
Mr. Havas referred to corruption as "the C word" at the beginning of his presentation, but concluded that C does not only stand for "corruption": it could also stand for "comprehensiveness". "Comprehensiveness in fighting corruption ought to be the language we need to promote. We should employ the global standard of anti-corruption found in the United Nations Convention against Corruption ", were his closing words.
The talk was followed by a lively question-and-answer session in which representatives of governments, civil society, donors, universities and the media participated.
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