KPK Reminds Taxpayers That Officials At The Directorate General Of Taxes Must Have Integrity

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) reminds taxpayers, tax inspectors, and officials at the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) to carry out their obligations with integrity.

Deputy Chairman of the KPK Nurul Ghufron said this had to be done because the presumptuous practice of outsmarting the amount of tax that must be paid by taxpayers made state revenues not maximized and even did not match the target.

"The corruption in the tax sector by reducing the amount of taxes that should be paid is one of the reasons the state revenue target in this sector has not been achieved. Even though taxes have an important role to support national financing and development," Ghufron said as quoted from the Indonesian KPK YouTube, Friday, 12 November.

He also reminded that there should be no more state officials, especially within the Directorate General of Taxes, who carry out evil conspiracy to commit corrupt practices. "Do your rights and obligations with integrity, not by promising or giving and receiving bribes," said Ghufron.

This is because taxes are one of the main sources of state revenue used to develop the country. It will be very detrimental to the nation and state if tax revenues are engineered for the interests and benefits of certain parties," he added.

Previously reported, the KPK forcibly arrested and detained the former Bantaeng Tax Head, Wawan Ridwan, who is a new suspect in the tax bribery case at the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance. This action was taken because he was considered uncooperative.

Wawan was named a suspect along with the former Head of the Examining Team at the Directorate of Audit and Collection at the Directorate General of Taxes, Alfred Simanjuntak. This determination has been made since the beginning of last November.

In this case, it was revealed that Wawan received the money which was then handed over to two officials at the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance, namely Angin Prayitno and Dadan Ramdani, who had previously been named suspects.

The receipt of this money occurred several times in the period 2018-2019. In January-February 2018, Wawan received Rp15 billion which was handed over by representatives of PT Gunung Madu Plantation.

Then, Wawan again received money around mid-2018. The amount of money he received reached 500 thousand Singapore dollars which was handed over by representatives of PT Bank PAN Indonesia from a total commitment of Rp. 25 billion.

Next, he again received money in July-September 2019 with a value of up to 3 million Singapore dollars which was handed over from representatives of PT Jhonlin Baratama. Of the total receipts, Wawan was later said to have received a share of 625 thousand Singapore dollars.

Not only that, Wawan is also suspected of receiving money from other taxpayers as a form of gratification. However, the KPK has not detailed the amount of money because it is still being investigated.