Government Accedes to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention

The government is preparing to accede to the Anti-Bribery Convention as a member obligation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“ OECD ”). Spokesperson for the Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi– “ KPK ”), Tessa Mahardika, revealed that one of the issues under discussion is the challenge of implementing criminal liability for corporations involved in international bribery practices.

"The best option is to design effective regulations to fill the legal gaps in criminal offense regulation, especially in handling cases of bribery involving foreign public officials," said Tessa to Hukumonline.

In Indonesia's accession roadmap, there are at least 272 instruments, with 6 of them addressing anti-corruption issues, including the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. This OECD Anti-Bribery Convention contains 17 articles that regulate various aspects of combating bribery, ranging from the criminalization of bribery acts, corporate penalties, international cooperation, to the imposition of strict sanctions.

“Including the confiscation of proceeds from bribery crimes as well as legal jurisdiction over subsidiaries operating abroad," said Tessa.

Currently, the accession process has entered the stage of drafting 32 chapters of the initial memorandum document, which is an assessment of Indonesia’s regulatory compliance with 239 OECD legal instruments. The initial memorandum document, containing a self-assessment of regulatory alignment with OECD standards, is targeted to be completed by early June 2025.