Angin Prayitno Claims Discussing The Tax Value Of Panin Bank Is Just A Formality

JAKARTA - The Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) has again held a follow-up trial in the alleged bribery case of 2016 and 2017 tax management at the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) with the defendants Angin Prayitno Aji and Dadan Ramdani.

During the trial, Angin through his legal counsel, Syaefullah Hamid, straightened out the KPK prosecutor's indictment related to the agreement on the Panin Bank tax value. In which, it was stated that there was a discussion on the tax value of Bank Panin by the audit team and representatives of taxpayers at the DGT Office on August 3, 2018.

In fact, the discussion of the value of the tax is only seen as a mere formality. This is because the value of the tax has been determined by Veronika Lindawati as the taxpayer's attorney and confidant of the Panin Bank boss, Mu'min Ali Gunawan.

"Even though the discussion is only a formality because the figures have adjusted to Veronika Lindawati's request. The indictment does not see the BAP of PT Panin Bank tax staff who are witnesses today," said Syaefullah Hamid at the Corruption Court, Jakarta, Tuesday, November 23.

In addition, Syaefullah also mentioned that in the BAP of the witnesses who participated in the tax audit process, Bank Panin did not agree with the results of the examination contained in the SPHP (Audit Notification Letter). The reason is that the value for corporate income tax should be nil

"Because it is not in accordance with the calculation of the tax staff, PT Bank Panin submitted a Taxpayer Response to the SPHP number PHP 69/PJ.04/2018 dated August 1, 2018 with number 325/DIR/EXT/18 signed by the Director of Finance and the President Director stating do not agree with all the corrections to the Corporate Income Tax," he said.

In the refutation letter, Bank Panin asked the DGT tax audit team to submit details of the findings of the tax audit. However, there was never any response until the SKPKB was finally published.

"In the meeting the Tax Team of PT Bank Panin did not agree with the results of the Tax Team's Audit on the underpayment of Corporate Income Tax of Rp. 303 billion. In the minutes, it stated that PT Bank Panin's objection was not received by the DJP Examining team until the issuance of an Underpayment Assessment Letter (SKPKB), " he explained.

So, based on the SKPKB letter, PT Bank Panin, continued Syaefullah, submitted a request for the reduction and cancellation of the first Corporate Income Tax SKPKB.

This application for reduction and cancellation was partially accepted by the Directorate General of Taxes, so that PT Bank Panin received a partial refund of the overpayment of Rp160.3 billion.

Meanwhile, for the remaining underpayment of Rp134.3 billion, PT Bank Panin filed a lawsuit and is still in the process at the Tax Court.

"From the facts of the trial so far, it turns out that the statements of the witnesses presented, consisting of PT Bank Panin's tax staff, contradict the indictment which states that the final discussion carried out by the audit team and representatives of the Taxpayer with the result that the parties agreed as stated in the Minutes of Discussion. Final Examination Results and Summary of Final Discussion Results," he concluded.