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Guernsey's Home Affairs Minister and the Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights recently met but their discussions did not stray outside the remit of financial crime and associated matters.
Minister Yasonna Laoly was in the island towards the end of last month, for meetings with Deputy Rob Prow and other law enforcement authorities.
Since his visit to Guernsey, Indonesia has passed a new criminal code, banning unmarried people from having sex.
The law made international headlines with questions over how it will impact the country's tourism industry, and what it may mean for couples in same sex relationships.
New criminal codes, passed this week in Indonesia, ban being drunk in public and being "too noisy" at nighttime.
The penalties appear harsh compared to other countries, with a six month jail sentence possible for people caught looking at pornography also among the new criminals codes introduced.
Pictured: The UK Government gives advice to people visiting Indonesia, an example of which is above.
His Excellency, Minister Laoly's visit to Guernsey saw his role as "Minister of Law and Human Rights" highlighted.
He was said to be here to "help strengthen cooperation on asset recovery and to combat transnational financial crime".
Deputy Prow has now confirmed their discussions only focused on those topics and they did not discuss any other issue regarding human rights.
“The recent visit to Guernsey by an Indonesian Minister was entirely focussed on combatting money laundering and other transnational financial crime and on associated asset recovery," he said.
"These are topics on which the States of Guernsey engages with the UK, governments of other jurisdictions and international bodies; as part of the efforts of the global community.
"Due to our constitutional relationship through the Crown, the UK Government has responsibilities for Guernsey’s formal international relations, and as such, the meetings in Guernsey with the Indonesian Minister did not include discussions on other topics.”
Pictured: Deputy Rob Prow.
While in Guernsey, His Excellency said he was "looking forward to having close cooperation with you particularly on combating transnational crimes. Indonesia welcomes the generous offer from the government of Guernsey to strengthen cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia in the field of asset recovery."
He also said that the new law, enacted by Guernsey, which led to the establishment of the Economic & Financial Crime Bureau (EFCB) meant he was "hopeful that both of these instruments (the new law and the EFCB) can provide new opportunities for our jurisdictions to work together to recover assets from proceeds of crime.”
Immediately following their meeting, Deputy Prow had said
“It was a privilege to meet the Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly, and to welcome him to Guernsey. I also expressed Guernsey’s condolences to the Republic of Indonesia following the devastating earthquake that struck the island of Java last week.
“I was pleased to be able to sign a Letter of Intent today to strengthen mutual cooperation between law enforcement authorities in combatting money laundering and other transnational crime. As Guernsey continues to develop its international identity and bilateral relations with jurisdictions across the globe, it is imperative that we continue to work cooperatively with our international partners on areas of mutual interest. This work demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meeting international standards on combatting financial crime, and I look forward to continuing to progress discussions with counterparts in the Republic of Indonesia.”
1/4 The Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights, His Excellency Yasonna Laoly, has visited Guernsey for the first time to help strengthen cooperation on asset recovery and to combat transnational financial crime. pic.twitter.com/32QDGvCz2e
— States of Guernsey (@Govgg) December 1, 2022
His Excellency's visit to Guernsey had followed recent discussions in September between the Director of the EFCB and Indonesian officials in Berlin.
During his time in Guernsey, Minister Laoly also met the President of the Policy & Resources Committee, Deputy Peter Ferbrache.
As part of the programme for the visit, the Minister and the President of the Committee for Home Affairs signed a Letter of Intent demonstrating the commitment of the governments of Guernsey and the Republic of Indonesia to combat transnational crime, particularly international financial crime and money laundering, which is aimed at encouraging effective cooperation and information sharing between their respective law enforcement authorities.
The Director of the EFCB and the Chief of Secretariat for Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance Task Force also signed a Letter of Cooperation to facilitate the sharing of information and intelligence between the EFCB and relevant Indonesian enforcement and regulatory authorities to aid asset recovery investigations.
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