Tax Directorate General Employees Receive Bribery Make Sri Mulyani Outraged, Gayus Tambunan's Play Is Repeated?

Illustration of rupiah currency. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Corrupt actions that are suspected of involving employees of the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance have raised deep concerns. This is because, amidst the low state income sector due to the impact of the pandemic, there are still people who take advantage of this situation to extract personal wealth.

"The allegation of bribery involving the Directorate General of Taxes employees deeply hurts the feelings of DGT and Ministry of Finance employees throughout Indonesia who are working to earn state revenues. Especially in the current state of economic downturn where the challenge of collecting tax revenue is very tough, ”said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani during a virtual press conference, Wednesday, March 3.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani added that all individuals in the Ministry of Finance must uphold the principles of integrity and professionalism at work.

"If the allegation is proven, then this is a betrayal for the efforts of all ranks who are currently focused on collecting state revenue," he said.

To note, allegations of bribery received by unscrupulous employees of the Directorate General of Taxation occurred based on public reports in early 2020. From this information, the Ministry of Finance then took quick steps by optimizing the function of the internal compliance unit.

Not only that, Sri Mulyani said that the Ministry of Finance is also collaborating with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to thoroughly investigate this bribery case.

"We do not tolerate acts of corruption and violations of the code of ethics committed by all or by anyone within the Ministry of Finance employees," he said.

Individuals who take bribes are fired

Sri Mulyani ensured that unscrupulous tax officials of the Directorate General (DG) of Taxes who were suspected of accepting bribes had the status of inactive.

"For employees of the Directorate General of Taxes who are suspected by the KPK to be involved in the practice of bribery, their duties have been exempted from their posts," he said.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani added that this step was a firm stance on the disgraceful actions of individual employees who tarnished the name of the institution. In addition, dismissal is also intended so that the legal process currently being undertaken can proceed in accordance with applicable regulations.

"In order to facilitate the investigation process by the KPK, the concerned person has resigned and is being processed from the administrative side of the ASN (state civil apparatus)," he said.

A strong warning to tax consultants and other taxpayers

"On this occasion, as the Minister of Finance, I ask all taxpayers (WP) as well as taxpayer attorneys and tax consultants to take part in maintaining the integrity of the Directorate General of Taxes by not promising or trying to give rewards or gifts or bribes to employees," he said.

Sri Mulyani added that the domino effect of bribery does not only damage the credibility of the institution but also has the potential to spread to a larger scope.

"Efforts (bribery) made like that damage not only the Directorate General of Taxes or individuals but also destroy the foundation of our country," he said.

The Gayus Tambunan case, volume II

Alleged bribery of tax officials brings public memory of a similar incident that occurred in 2010. At that time, Gayus Halomoan Partison Tambunan alias Gayus Tambunan became the main play.

He is a former civil servant (PNS) DGT Ministry of Finance. Gayus was known when Komjen (Pol) Susno Duadji mentioned that Gayus kept Rp25 billion in his bank account, plus Rp. 60 billion worth of foreign money and Rp. 14 billion worth of jewelery in a bank vault in the name of his wife, all of which were suspected of being illegal assets.

In subsequent developments, Gayus had fled to Singapore and his wife's child before being picked up by the Legal Mafia Task Force in Singapore.

The Gayus case tarnished the process of tax reform at the Ministry of Finance, which Sri Mulyani was doing at the time and at the same time destroyed the image of the Indonesian tax apparatus.

Remarkably, the graduate of the diploma three program from the State College of Accountancy (STAN) in the 2000 academic year was found to be in Bali on November 5, 2010 watching the Commonwealth World Championship tennis match when he was supposed to be in his cell.

Gayus himself acknowledged his presence in Bali on that date at the trial on November 15, 2010.

Actual tax revenue

The irony of the people's money management that is being displayed on the tax stage this time seems to be going on for a long time. This is because Sri Mulyani is known to have no compassion for anyone who misuses state funds. The legal process is a fixed price for him.

The straightforward attitude of the bureaucrat who was born in Bandar Lampung 58 years ago is quite reasonable. The reason is, the case for managing all state funds is in his hands.

In fact, Sri Mulyani in her position often received the first accusations if the government opened the APBN financing scheme. In fact, this decision was taken to ensure that state activities can be carried out properly.

In a virtual press conference of our APBN on Tuesday, February 23, the Minister of Finance said that the realization of tax revenue for the January 2021 period contracted minus 15.3 percent year-on-year. In nominal terms, only IDR 68.5 trillion or 5.6 percent of the year's target of IDR IDR 1,229.6 trillion has been collected.

As a comparison, for January 2020 it was recorded at IDR 80.8 trillion or 6.7 percent of the target for that year.

Overall, the income post until January 2021 was IDR100.1 trillion or a drop to minus 4.8 percent compared to the achievement of the same period in 2020 amounting to IDR105.1 trillion.

The income side which is quite minimal compared to the large enough expenditure makes the government rack its brains to patch the budget deficit. The option of releasing debt securities and updating investment regulations are the solutions currently being pursued by the state.

So, it is perfectly understandable if Sri Mulyani is furious and calls those who steal people's money during the pandemic as traitors.