Supreme Court Prepares Rules on Asset Recovery for Economic Crimes

Chief Justice of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia (“Supreme Court”), Prof. Surya Jaya, emphasized that the paradigm of law enforcement must immediately shift from merely punishing individuals (follow the suspect) to recovering state losses through asset tracing and forfeiture (follow the money/asset). One such effort involves elevating the regulatory status of asset recovery from a mere Draft Regulation of the Supreme Court (“Regulation”) to a comprehensive law.

“It would be better for us to draft the law. We can submit the content of the Regulation as material for the law,” he told Hukumonline. 

It is known that the Supreme Court, together with the Corruption Eradication Commission (“KPK”), is drafting a Regulation on the management of seized property and forfeited assets from criminal offenses. One of the key points concerns the preservation of corporate assets through the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) mechanism.

Unlike conventional seizures, which often bring a company’s operations to a halt, this mechanism allows business and production activities to continue even while the corporation is under investigation. 

“The assets can still be used to generate profits to pay for the proceeds of crime. Thus, the economic value of the assets is preserved and does not decline when they are eventually executed to recover state losses,” he explained.