Known as the playgrounds of the rich, casinos may be their piggy banks as well. The state’s financial tracking body has found that foreign casinos hold stashes of currency worth Rp 50 billion (US$ 3.5 million) for certain Indonesian regional leaders.

The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) announced the discovery on Friday when the body provided its annual report to journalists.

The PPATK said it had been assisting in the investigation of several financial cases, including alleged money laundering by regional leaders.

“The PPATK conducted a search of the financial transactions of several regional leaders who had allegedly put money in foreign currencies equivalent to Rp 50 billion into casino accounts abroad,” the body wrote.

The PPATK said they had also discovered purchases of luxury goods and gold bars in other countries using illicit money obtained from criminal activities. The body declined to mention further details about the allegations in the report.

Read also: PPATK strengthens asset watch

In response to the report, Home Minister Tito Karnavian said his office would coordinate with the PPATK regarding the findings.

If the allegations were true, he said, the implicated regional heads could face punishment from their respective inspector generals in the regions where they served as leaders.

“If other parties such as law enforcement want to investigate it too, go for it,” the minister said as quoted by kompas.com.

Home Ministry regional autonomy director general Akmal Malik echoed Tito’s statement, saying he would send ministry officials to the PPATK to check on the report.

“If we find any indication of criminal activity, we will hand [the report] over to law enforcement. It is also possible we’ll hand it over to the BPK [Supreme Audit Agency] if an audit on the accounts is deemed necessary,” Akmal said on Monday.

Separately, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Saut Situmorang said the antigraft body would not rule out the possibility of following up the PPATK’s report.

However, he said law enforcement should investigate carefully to find the source of the money if it had truly been stored by regional leaders abroad.

“It could be their personal money from legal business. The KPK always finds out the predicate crime first before slapping suspects [with charges]. It needs to be done carefully,” Saut said as quoted by kompas.com.

A number of corruption cases handled by the KPK have found graft suspects laundering illicit money abroad.

The antigraft body suspected Emirsyah Satar, the former president director of state-owned flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, of laundering monetary bribes through the purchase of an apartment in Singapore. (kuk)