Ready To Face Pretrial Lawsuit Of Former Director General Of Taxes, KPK Legal Bureau Composes Answers

Illustration-KPK Leaders hold a press conference to determine the suspect in the tax bribery case (Photo: KPK YouTube Screenshot/Wardhany Tsa Tsia)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) admits that it is ready to face a pretrial lawsuit filed by the former Director of Audit and Collection of the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance, Angin Prayitno Aji.

He is a suspect in the alleged bribery case related to the 2016 and 2017 tax audits at the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance.

Acting KPK Spokesperson for Prevention Ipi Maryati even said that the KPK Legal Bureau was currently compiling answers to be presented in court.

This preparation was made after the anti-corruption commission received a summons from the South Jakarta District Court.

"The KPK is certainly ready to face the pretrial lawsuit. The KPK through the Legal Bureau will prepare answers and present them in front of the pretrial application hearing," said Ipi to reporters, Friday, July 16.

The inaugural trial with the agenda of reading the pretrial lawsuit will be held on Monday, July 19. "In general, the material in the suspect's lawsuit is related to the determination of the person concerned as a suspect, searches, seizures, and detentions," said Ipi.

Previously reported, based on the Case Investigation Information System (SIPP) of the South Jakarta District Court, Angin Prayitno's lawsuit was registered with case number 68/Pid.Pra/2021/PN JKT.SEL. The lawsuit was filed on June 16 last.

There are seven petitions that he submitted, namely:

1. To grant this Pretrial application in its entirety;

2. To declare an Investigation Order (Sprin.Dik) No. Sprin.Dik/03/DIK.00.01/02/2021 dated February 4, 2021 which was used as the basis by the Respondent to carry out an investigative action against the Petitioner and establish the Petitioner as a suspect in connection with the alleged criminal act of corruption based on Article 12 letter a or Article 12 letter b or Article 11 of Law no. 31 of 1999 as amended by Law no. 20 of 2001 with the events as stated in the Sprindik is invalid and not legally binding;

3. To declare that the investigation is based on the Investigation Order (Sprin.Dik) No. Sprin.Dik/03/DIK.00.01/02/2021 dated February 4, 2021, which was committed by the Respondent to the Petitioner in relation to the alleged criminal act of corruption based on Article 12 letter a or Article 12 letter b or Article 11 of Law No. 31 of 1999 as amended by Law no. 20 of 2001 with the events as stated in the Sprindik is invalid and not legally binding;

4. To declare that the determination of the suspect against the Petitioner in the context of an investigation is based on the Investigation Order (Sprin.Dik) No. Sprin.Dik/03/DIK.00.01/02/2021 dated February 4, 2021, which was committed by the Respondent in connection with an alleged criminal act of corruption based on Article 12 letter a or Article 12 letter b or Article 11 of Law No. 31 of 1999 as amended by Law no. 20 of 2001 with the events as stated in the Sprindik is invalid and not legally binding;

5. To declare that the detention of the Petitioner based on the Detention Order No. Sprin.Han/24/DIK.01.03/01/05/2021 dated May 4, 2021 is invalid and not legally binding;

6. Order the Respondent to release the Petitioner and release him from custody;

7. To declare that all confiscation actions based on the Confiscation Order Number Sprin.Sita/121/DIK.01.05/20-23/04/2021 which are contained in the Minutes of Confiscation dated 25 May 2021 and/or other confiscation actions in this case are invalid and not legally binding;

In this case, the KPK named two officials at the Directorate General of Taxes as suspects, namely the Director of Audit and Collection at the 2016-2019 Directorate General of Taxes Angin Prayitno Aji and the Head of the Sub-directorate of Cooperation and Audit Support of the Directorate General of Taxes Dadan Ramdani.

The determination of the suspect was carried out after the KPK examined 30 witnesses who were suspected of knowing the actions of the suspects.

In addition, the KPK has also named four other suspects in this alleged bribery. They are three tax consultants, namely Ryan Ahmad Ronas, Aulia Imran Maghribi, and Agus Susetyo, and a tax attorney, Veronika Lindawati.