Recovery of State Losses in Corruption Cases in Indonesia, through the Asset Recovery Model and Mutual Legal Assistance

Abstract

Two issues will be examined in this study: whether the optimization of recovering state losses in corruption cases can be carried out with the mutual legal assistance model and whether the obstacles to optimizing the recovery of state losses in corruption cases with the mutual legal assistance model. The study aims to obtain complete information about optimizing the recovery of state losses in cases of corruption which can be carried out using the mutual legal assistance model, and obstacles to optimizing the recovery of state losses in corruption cases using the mutual legal assistance model.

The study shows that efforts to recover state losses in corruption cases can be carried out in various ways, one of which is the mutual legal assistance (MLA) model. MLA plays an essential role in recovering assets obtained from corruption crimes, especially assets taken abroad by corruption perpetrators. MLA can run optimally if there is a strong synergy between stakeholders. Efforts to return 'stolen' state assets (stolen asset recovery) through criminal acts of corruption tend not to be easy to do. Corruption perpetrators have extraordinary access and are difficult to reach in hiding or money laundering the proceeds of their corruption crimes. An international institution, the Basel Institute on Governance, the International Center for Asset Recovery stated that: 'asset recovery is a difficult task and is fraught with the complications of the banks involved, the navigation of a costly international legal labyrinth and the fact that those implicated in public looting are usually those with the most power and influence'.