Tax Examiner And Child Charged With Money Laundering

JAKARTA - Head of the Registration, Extensification and Appraisal Division of the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Taxes for South, West, and Southeast Sulawesi, Wawan Ridwan, and his son, Muhammad Farsha Kautsar, were charged with money laundering.

"Defendant I, Wawan Ridwan, in 2018-2020 had committed several acts which he knew or reasonably suspected was the result of a criminal act of corruption with the aim of hiding or disguising the origin of wealth", said the public prosecutor (JPU) of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), M. Asri Irwan, at the Jakarta Corruption Court as reported by Antara on Wednesday, January 26.

Wawan Ridwan during his time as an intermediate tax examiner at the Directorate of Audit and Collection for the period 2014-2019 received an order from Angin Prayitno through Dadan Ramdani to get a fee from the audited taxpayers.

The fee is divided by 50 percent for structural officials consisting of the Director and Head of the Sub-Directorate, while 50 percent is allocated for the audit team. In this case, Wawan got 606,250 Singapore dollars or around IDR 6.47 billion.

For this acceptance, Wawan bought a Honda Jazz 1.5 RS CVT MMC in Crystal Black Pearl color for IDR 262.5 million on April 24, 2018. The purchase of this car was made by Wawan's son, Feyzra Akmal Maulana.

Second, the purchase of 2 parcels of land and a building covering an area of 101 and 199 square meters in the city of Bandung in October 2018 totaled IDR 2.8 billion.

Third, the purchase of a house in Tangerang on February 16, 2019, worth IDR 1.3 billion, was signed by Feyza Akmal Maulana.

Fourth, the purchase of land in Rangkasbitung covering an area of 374 square meters in 2019 is valued at IDR252,450.000,00.

Fifth, purchase a Honda CRV Turbo 1.5 Prestige in Crystal Black Pearl color for IDR 509.3 million on February 7, 2020.

"Defendant I Wawan Ridwan together with Muhammad Farsha Kautsar in April 2018-August 2020 knew or should have suspected that his assets were the result of a criminal act of corruption related to receiving gratuities from taxpayers who were examined by Defendant I to hide or Disguising his origins, he has committed several acts on behalf of Defendant I himself or on behalf of other parties", said prosecutor Asri.

Wawan during his time as a middle tax examiner for the 2015-2019 period received gratification in the form of money from taxpayers related to the audit of taxpayers PT Sahung Brantas Energi, PT Rigunas Agri Utama (PT RAU), CV Perjuangan Steel (CV PS), PT Indolampung Perkasa, PT Esta Indonesia, Ridwan Pribadi.

Then PT Walet Kembar Lestari (PT WKL), and PT Link Net for IDR 1,036,250,000.00, 71,250 Singapore dollars, and the equivalent of IDR 625 million in US dollars and from other taxpayers for IDR 6,446,847,500.00 which examined by the Musliman Tax Auditor Team, Karl Layman, and Atik Djauhar.

The money was then changed in form by first exchanging the money received in the form of foreign currency into rupiah currency in the name of Muhammad Farsha Kautsar for IDR 8,888,830,000.00.

Second, transferring to the account of M. Farsha Kautsar on January 28, 2019—April 29, 2019, for IDR 1,204,473,500.00.

Third, buy a watch on April 5, 2019—July 25, 2019, for IDR 888,830,000.00.

Fourth, buy 1 unit of Olander Mercedes Benz C300 Coupe worth IDR 1,379,105,000.00.

Fifth, buy tickets and hotels for IDR 987,289,803.00.

Sixth, buying foreign currency amounting to IDR 300 million on May 23, 2019.

Seventh, transferred 21 times to Siwi Widi Purwanti as a close friend of Muhammad Farsha Kautsar on April 8, 2019—July 23, 2019 worth IDR 647,850.000,00.

Eighth, transferring to Adinda Rana Fauziah in January 2019-March 2021 worth IDR 39,186,927 and to Bimo Edwinanto an amount of IDR 296 million as a friend of M. Farsha Kautsar

Ninth, transferred several times to Nurcahyo Dwi Purnomo and his family for the business interests of Wawan and M, Farsha Kautsar for IDR 509,180.000,00 on February 7, 2019—December 9, 2020.

For his actions, Wawan Ridwan was charged with Article 3 of Law Number 8 of 2019 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering in conjunction with Article 65 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.

On this charge, Wawan did not file an objection note (exception).