The urgency of law reforms on economic crimes in Indonesia

Abstract

The Indonesia’s economy has experienced rapid and massive development. Even after its contraction due to the pandemic in 2020, the economic growth of Indonesia is still highly significant. Digital transactions play an important role in the economic development. However, the economic growth may potentially lead to considerable number of economic crimes. To deal with them, the penal policy on economic crimes has not been developed according to the growth. The disparity among criminal provisions in economic sectors results in legal uncertainty in the enforcement of economic crimes. This research aims to shed a light on the current penal policy on economic crimes and the urgency of the reform on the economic criminal law. It is concluded that the Economic Crimes Law 1955 is no longer relevant to eradicate economic crimes in Indonesia. Furthermore, Indonesia Penal Code is far left behind by the current economic development. Therefore, a far-reaching reform is necessary. The partial reform of economic criminal law through various legislations has resulted in the legal uncertainty. For instance, they embrace different corporate criminal liability and sentencing principles. Hence, it is important to formulate a law on the principles of economic criminal law applying to all economic crimes.