TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government signing a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) with the Swiss Confederation at Bernerhof Bern on Monday, February 4, has become a new chapter in Indonesia’s hunt to dispossess assets resulting from criminal acts.

Tempo reached Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly on Tuesday and found that the MLA signing is a product of tireless negotiations that lasted for years.

“Swiss government has really safeguarded the security and confidentiality of their banking system,” said Yasonna. “This MLA enables us to request assistance from the Swiss government upon investigating assets of crime by Indonesian nationals stashed in Swiss.”

Looking back at the agreement’s history, the Indonesian government under sixth president Susilo “SBY” Bambang Yudhoyono once met with Swiss Confederation President Micheline Calmy-Rey at Jakarta’s State Palace on February 2007.

Read also: Indonesia, Switzerland Sign MLA Agreement

The meeting between the two produced the idea of both governments working in unison to take back state assets kept overseas by corruptors. Especially considering that Swiss has a law that enables them to assist other countries upon tracing corruptors’ foreign assets, which was proven by their partnership with Nigeria and the Philippines at the time that managed to return USD1,250 thousand in total.

2010 saw SBY follow up the partnership with Swiss Confederation President at the time, Doris Leuthard who visited the State Palace and asserted Swiss’ commitment in assisting Indonesia.

There were no updates for several years until March of 2015 under the Jokowi administration that saw Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi hold a meeting with Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Burkhalter that helped reignite the creation of the Indonesia - Swiss MLA.

TEMPO.CO