Not Enough Evidence Is The Reason The KPK Does Not Immediately Arrest Alfred Simanjuntak In The Tax Bribery Case

JAKARTA - The former head of the Investigating Team at the Directorate of Audit and Collection at the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance, Alfred Simanjuntak, has not yet been detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Even though Alfred has been named a suspect in the tax administration bribery case.

The KPK reasoned that this detention had not been carried out because the evidence for the detention of Alfred was still incomplete. In addition, this step was taken as a strategy for investigating bribery cases that had involved a number of officials at the Directorate General of Taxes.

"Currently, investigators are still collecting and completing evidence," said Acting Spokesperson for the KPK for Enforcement, Ali Fikri, to reporters, Friday, December 17.

The KPK, he continued, would certainly arrest Alfred. It's just that, Ali said, the process will be carried out after the evidence bagged by investigators is sufficient.

"In time, if the investigation is sufficient, we will convey the progress," he said.

It was previously reported that Alfred had carried out an investigation as a suspect on Thursday, December 16 yesterday. He confirmed the alleged existence of a mutual agreement to manipulate the calculation of the value of taxpayers.

The act was allegedly carried out with the former Head of Bantaeng Tax, Wawan Ridwan. Not only that, investigators also suspect that money was given from related parties in the manipulation process.

In this case, Alfred was named a suspect along with Wawan. The determination was made after the development of the previous suspects, namely Angin Prayitno and Dadan Ramdani, who are officials of the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance.

However, Wawan has now been detained because he is considered uncooperative. The KPK suspects that the former Bantaeng Tax Head received the money which was then handed over to Angin Prayitno and Dadan Ramdani.

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 the total commitment of IDR 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 was also suspected of receiving money from other taxpayers as a form of gratuity. However, the KPK has not detailed the amount of money because it is still being investigated.