Refleksi: Kabar lama menjadi aktual di bulan puasa nan suci buat Pak Harto. Semoga berita ini tidak membuat denyutan jantung Pak Harto bertambah kencang seperti suara tapak kaki kuda dokar lari kencang, tetapi berita yang memberi kesempatan istimewa kepada Pak Harto untuk dengan kerendahan hati berpedoman pada wahyu kejujuran Illahi guna menyerahkan semua harta yang diperoleh dengan jalan haram pada masa kekuasaan nan jaya di masa silam. Selamat berpuasa.
http://www.nerve.in/news:25350092267 Tuesday, 18 September 2007 | UN campaigns to recover stolen assets worth trillions "Other embezzlers included former President Mohamed Suharto of Indonesia, $15 million to 35 billion; Mobutu Sese Seko, former president of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), $5 billion; and Sani Abacha of Nigeria $2 billion to $5 billion." New York, Sep 18 (DPA) The United Nations has launched a worldwide campaign to recover cross-border flow of global assets estimated at up to $1.6 trillion a year as a result of criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion. The Stolen Asset Recovery initiative launched Monday is supported by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Bank, which said at least 25 percent of gross domestic products of African states, about $148 billion, have been lost each year. Similar problems exist in other continents. The World Bank has made asset recovery an integral part of its World Bank governance and anti-corruption strategy. The UN said bribes received by public officials in developing countries and those in transition have been conservatively put at $20 billion to $40 billion a year. It said every $100 million in assets recovered could go to treat 600,000 AIDS patients a full year, or provide fresh drinking water to 250,000 families in poor nations. 'This initiative will foster much needed cooperation between developed and developing countries, and between the public and private sectors to ensure looted assets are returned to their rightful owner,' UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said before the launch of the campaign. Developing countries will receive UN assistance in their efforts to recover looted and cross-border flow of assets, including hiring of legal counsel and facilitating cooperation among governments. Other activities to be undertaken to assist the recovery include building institutional capacity and integrity of financial markets. The UN cited the example of the Philippines, which spent 18 years to recover $624 million that its former President Ferdinand Marcos stashed in Swiss bank accounts. Nigeria last year recovered $505 million that its former leader Sani Abacha stashed in Swiss banks. Among major cases of embezzled assets, the UN said Ferdinand Marcos stole between $5 billion and $10 billion from government coffers during his long reign; former Serb president Slobodan Milosevic stole $1 billion; former Peru president Alberto Fujimori $600 million and former Haitian leader Jean-Claude Duvalier between $300 million and $800 million. Other embezzlers included former President Mohamed Suharto of Indonesia, $15 million to 35 billion; Mobutu Sese Seko, former president of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), $5 billion; and Sani Abacha of Nigeria $2 billion to $5 billion. The UN also urged governments to sign a convention against corruption. But it pointed out many rich and Western nations have not joined that convention, including Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan, and half of the members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a club of rich nations.
