KPK Explores Potential Corporate Suspects Related To Tax Deposition

BETWEEN/Fianda Sjofjan Rassat

JAKARTA - Investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) are now investigating the potential for determining corporate suspects in gratification cases related to tax audits at the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance in 2016-2017.

"Are the companies involved and then represented by the consultants a suspect, including the management? We will see what evidence is obtained from investigators," said KPK Deputy Chairman Alexander Marwata as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, November 9.

In the case of tax audit gratuities at the Directorate General of Taxes, there are several suspects who are tax consultants representing corporations.

"The tax consultant is on behalf of the company, so corporations should be involved, right? It's also impossible for a tax consultant to give money with his own money. So the money is also part of the fee or whatever the company gives him," said Alex.

For information, the KPK on Thursday (9/11) named two suspects and immediately detained a member of the tax audit team of the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP), namely Yulmanizar (YMR) and Febrian (FB) for involvement in the alleged gratification case related to tax audits at the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance in 2016-2017.

Alex explained that the determination of the suspects against the two was part of the development of a corruption case that dragged the Director of Audit and Collection of DJP Angin Prayitno Aji (APA).

There are seven other suspects in the case that ensnared Angin Prayitno, namely the Head of Sub-Directorate for Cooperation and Audit Support at DGT Dadan Ramdani (DR), Supervisor of the Tax Auditor Team at DJP Wawan Ridwan (WR), Head of the Tax Audit Team at DJP Alfred Simanjuntak (US).

Furthermore, Tax Consultant PT Gunung Madu Plantation Ryan Ahmad Ronas (AHR), Gunung Madu Plantation Tax Consultant Aulia Imran Maghribi (AIM), Tax Consultant PT Jhonlin Baratama Agus Susetyo (AS), Taxpayer Authority of PT Bank Pan Indonesia Veronika Lindawati (VL). The verdict of the suspects' cases, currently has permanent legal force.

In the process of investigating the case of Angin Prayitno and his friends, coupled with the emergence of various legal facts during the trial process which was strengthened by the judge's decision, the KPK found the involvement of YMR and FB with adequate evidence until it was declared worthy to be a suspect.

The construction of the case that ensnared Yulmanizar and Febrian began when both of them became members of the tax audit team and were tasked with engineering the calculation of tax payment obligations in accordance with the orders and tiered directions from APA, DR, WR, and AS at the request of the taxpayers.

In order for the taxpayer's wish to be approved, APA and DR require the giving of a sum of money and those who do "deals" with taxpayers in the field are YMR and FB.

Taxpayers who provide money include PT Gunung Madu Plantations for the 2016 fiscal year, PT Bank Pan Indonesia for the 2016 fiscal year, and PT Jhonlin Baratama.

For the consolidation of tax calculations for three taxpayers in the intent, APA, DR, WR, AS, YMR and FB received a total of around Rp. 15 billion and 4 million Singapore dollars.

In addition, YMR and FB together with APA, DR, WR and AS are suspected of receiving gratuities from several other taxpayers with preliminary evidence of around billions of rupiah and are still being investigated.

For their actions, Yulmanizar and Febrian were charged with Article 12 letter a or Article 12 letter b or Article 11 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001.