Billions of corruptly acquired dollars stashed in banks in Hong Kong by Indonesian crooks are finally set to be returned to the government in Jakarta.
Indonesia and Hong Kong will sign an agreement in November allowing Jakarta to pursue misappropriated funds hidden in the city's banks and financial institutions.
Several cases are pending against corrupt officials, and the Indonesian Attorney General's Office has begun preparations for securing their loot in the expectation a mutual legal agreement (MLA) on criminal matters will be signed at a conference in Bali.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been fighting to recover funds and root out corruption which flourished under the dictatorship of Suharto.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice in Hong Kong confirmed the agreement was close to being completed.
Yan Genmarengga, of the Indonesian Attorney's General Office, who is based in Hong Kong, said he was working on several cases involving hundreds of millions of US dollars.
"There are many, many cases and we are waiting for the support of the MLA to pursue them," Mr Yan said.
"We have some general cases involving hundreds of millions of
One of the early targets is likely to be the estimated US$800 million stolen by the late owner of BHS Bank, Hendra Rahardja, from the Bank of Indonesia's liquidity support fund.
Indonesian authorities claim Hendra, who died in January 2003, transferred the stolen money from Australian banks to Hong Kong shortly before his death.
Hendra was found guilty of corruptly obtaining 1.95 trillion rupiah (HK$1.66 billion at current exchange rates) from the support fund.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said it had no authority to order banks to hand over money from suspect accounts. That was a matter for the courts.
However, he said the authority issued guidelines to banks on combatting money laundering.
These included verifying the identity of customers and ensuring that company accounts were used for legitimate purposes.
The Department of Justice said Hong Kong had MLAs with 21 legal jurisdictions. They cover the collection of evidence, searching for and seizing stolen goods and money and the confiscation of the proceeds of crime.
A senior officer with the police force's joint financial intelligence unit, which investigates suspicious transactions, said the department had seen a steady increase in cases. He said the return to overseas jurisdictions of the proceeds of corruption, drug or money laundering cases depended upon MLAs, which allowed foreign justice officials to work with their local counterparts.
"Once the Hong Kong High Court has accepted an overseas confiscation or forfeit order, the court will issue a similar order in Hong Kong to confiscate or forfeit the criminal proceeds," he said.
