Optimization of Prosecutorial Authority in Asset Tracing of Human Trafficking Crimes for Victim Recovery

Abstract

The Crime of Human Trafficking (TPPO) is an extraordinary crime with a transnational economic dimension, driven by organized syndicates seeking massive financial profits from human exploitation. Unfortunately, Indonesia’s law enforcement system has long remained trapped in a retributive punishment paradigm focused on the physical imprisonment of perpetrators, while victims’ rights to recovery through restitution payments are often neglected. Bureaucratic obstacles in penetrating banking secrecy, perpetrators’ sophistication in disguising criminal proceeds, and legal loopholes in the form of substitute imprisonment (subsidiary sanctions) for unpaid restitution frequently render compensation rulings illusory. As a result, victims fail to obtain restorative justice and experience revictimization. This study aims to analyze the urgency of a legal paradigm shift and the optimization of prosecutorial authority in tracing and confiscating assets belonging to human traffickers. This research employs a normative legal research method emphasizing statutory and conceptual approaches. The findings indicate that, as dominus litis (controller of criminal proceedings), the Prosecutor’s Office must redefine prosecution toward restorative justice and Dignified Justice by prioritizing a follow-the-money approach from the earliest stage of investigation. Such optimization requires the application of cumulative indictments combining Human Trafficking offenses and Money Laundering offenses (TPPU) in order to reverse the burden of proof regarding perpetrators’ wealth. Furthermore, stronger real-time financial intelligence synergy with the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), utilization of cross-border legal cooperation through Mutual Legal Assistance, and close collaboration with the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) are necessary to ensure reasonable restitution amounts. In conclusion, aggressive confiscation of criminal assets by the Prosecutor’s Office is not merely an instrument for impoverishing syndicates and cutting off their financial lifelines, but also a tangible manifestation of the state’s presence in ensuring the execution of restitution to restore the human dignity of victims that has been taken from them.