Sri Mulyani Sits On Transaction Issues Of IDR 300 Trillion After Meeting Mahfud MD

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: Capture the screen of the virtual channel)

Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani today is known to have visited the office of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to meet with Minister Mahfud MD.

In a press conference after the meeting, the Minister of Finance provided clarification regarding the information on suspicious transactions of Rp. 300 trillion allegedly related to money laundering in the Ministry of Finance.

"Pak Ivan as the Head of PPATK sent a letter to the Minister of Finance on March 7, 2023. This letter numbered SR/2748/AP.01.01/III/2023. This letter from the Head of PPATK contains all PPATK letters to the Ministry of Finance, especially the Inspectorate General," he told the media crew in Jakarta on Monday, March 20.

According to the Minister of Finance, the letter is a collection from 2009 to 2023 with a total of 196 letters. It was explained that the hundreds of letters did not include the number or nominal of transactions.

"So in this case it only contains letter numbers, dates, the names of people written by PPATK and then the follow-up of the Ministry of Finance," he said.

The Minister of Finance added that all of these letters had taken follow-up steps.

"That's why from the beginning, Gayus (tax defendants) until now. Some have been sanctioned, some have been imprisoned, some have been demoted. So we used PP 94 of 2010 regarding ASN," he said.

The Minister of Finance continued, recently a statement emerged regarding the PPATK letter stated suspicious transactions of Rp. 300 trillion. He ensured that the Ministry of Finance had not received the letter in question.

"That's why last Saturday, I and the Coordinating Minister (Mahfud MD) made a public statement that we have not received a PPATK letter containing numbers. Pak Ivan only sent a letter on March 13. So, when I delivered it with the Coordinating Minister at the Ministry of Finance, it was March 11 and had not received it," he said.

"We have just received a second letter from the Head of PPATK Number SR/3160/AT.01.01/III/2023 which contains the recapitulation of the data on the results of the analysis and the results of the examination as well as information on financial transactions related to the duties and functions of the Ministry of Finance 2009-2023. The attachment is a list of letters that are there 3.00 letters with a transaction value of IDR 349 trillion," he continued.

For this matter, the Minister of Finance conveyed several points of concern. First, from the 300 letters, 65 letters are containing financial transactions from companies or agencies or individuals that are not included in the Ministry of Finance.

"So this is an economic transaction carried out by a company or agency or individual. However, because it involves the duties of the Ministry of Finance, especially regarding import exports, then it is sent by PPATK to us. A total of 65 letters amounted to Rp253 trillion. This means that PPATK has a transaction in the economy, whether it's trading, whether it's property change, which is suspected to be suspicious and then sent to the Ministry of Finance which then we can follow up in accordance with our duties and functions," explained the Minister of Finance.

Furthermore, as many as 99 other letters are PPATK letters to law enforcement officials and the transaction value is Rp74 trillion. Meanwhile, there were 135 letters from the PPATK regarding the names of employees of the Ministry of Finance with a smaller value.

"So I gave an example so that the media can understand what was conveyed by the Coordinating Minister regarding the definition of money laundering and suspicious transactions. One letter that is very prominent from PPATK is letter Number 205/PR.01 2020 which was sent on 19 May 2020 which states transactions amounting to Rp189.2 trillion. Imagine, earlier the total was Rp349 trillion and this was only Rp189.2 trillion," he said.

For this large number, the Minister of Finance admitted that he had asked his staff at the Directorate of Taxes and Customs to examine what was used as data and information. PPATK mentioned 15 individuals and entities/companies as well as individual names in 2017-2019.

"It turns out that it has been seen, there are facts from Customs and Excise, who received directly from PPATK, they are those who export gold bullion and gold jewelry as well as money changers activities and other activities. So in May the letter received in September was discussed with PPATK," he said.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Taxes also received a letter from PPATK number 595 with a transaction figure of IDR 205 trillion with 17 entities. Then the tax ranks also conducted research.

It was found that there were companies that used five different employee tax numbers and did not match the SPT value and the transactions made.

"We appreciate the data from PPATK. Basically, Taxes and Customs in collaboration with PPATK to exchange information in fighting corruption and also money laundering," said Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.