Consultant PT Jhonlin Baratama Agus Susetyo And Bank Panin Veronika Lindawati Arrested By KPK Due To Tax Conditions

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detained PT Jhonlin Baratama's tax consultant Agus Susetyo and PT Bank Panin, Tbk, named Veronika Lindawati today, Thursday, August 25. Both were arrested for bribing an examiner at the Directorate General of Taxes.

"For the purposes of the VL and AS investigations, an effort was made to forcefully detain the investigators," said KPK Deputy for Enforcement and Execution Karyoto at a press conference at the KPK's Red and White Building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta.

Karyoto said Agus and Veronika were detained at the Polda Metro Jaya detention center for 20 days until September 13.

In this case, Veronika, who is the commissioner of Panin Investment, was authorized by the Director of PT Finance PT Bank Panin Tbk, Ahmad Hidayat in 2017. He was asked to take care of the 2016 tax audit from the Directorate of Audit and Collection (P2) of the Directorate of Taxes.

The team he met consisted of Wawan Ridwan as Supervisor, Alfred Simanjuntak as Head of the Examining Team and Yulmanizar and Febrian as members of the Examining Team.

Furthermore, the meeting took place again in July 2018. In a meeting at the Director General of Taxes Building, Vero asked that the value of PT Bank Panin's Tax Assessment Letter (SKP) could be conditioned to an underpayment of only Rp300 billion.

"VL also promised to provide a sum of money in the form of a fee of Rp. 25 billion to the inspection team who was informed through Yulmanizar," said Karyoto.

The promise, continued Karyoto, was then conveyed by Wawan Ridwan and Dandan Ramdani who were then forwarded to the Director General of Taxes P2, Wind Prayitno. Furthermore, the approval is given and the promise of giving is carried out after the SKP is issued.

Not only from Veronika, these tax examiners also get a fee from Agus, who is a tax consultant for PT Jhonlin Baratama. To lower the SKP, they were promised a sum of Rp50 billion.

However, from this commitment, only Rp40 billion was realized. "With the distribution of IDR 35 billion, it will be given in stages at the Director General of Taxes Building, which Wawan Ridwan received directly as representatives of Angin Prayitno Aji, Dadan Ramdani, Alfred Simanjuntak, Yulmanizar and Febrian," explained Karyoto.

"Meanwhile, the US (Agus Susetyo) also gets a share of Rp. 5 billion," he continued.

For their actions, Agus and Veronika are suspected of violating Article 5 paragraph 1 letter a or Article 5 paragraph 1 letter b or Article 13 of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 of 2001 concerning Amendments to Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.