Siwi, A Former Garuda Flight Attendant, Admits That She Received Rp. 647 Million From The Son Of A Former Official Of The Directorate General Of Taxes

Former Garuda Indonesia flight attendant Siwi Widi Purwanti. ANTARA/Fianda Rassat/pri

JAKARTA - Ex-Garuda Indonesia flight attendant Siwi Widi Purwanti admitted to receiving Rp647.85 million from Farsha Kautsar, the son of a former middle tax inspector at the Directorate General of Taxation Inspection and Collection, Wawan Ridwan.

"There was a transfer from Farsha's account from April 2019 to July 2019," said Siwi Widi at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) as reported by Antara, Tuesday, May 10.

Siwi became a witness for former Head of Registration, Extensification, and Appraisal of the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Taxes of South, West, and Southeast Sulawesi (Sulselbartra) Wawan Ridwan who was charged with accepting bribes, receiving gratuities, and committing money laundering.

"At that time I became a close friend of Farsha. Farsha claimed to be 28 years old, as a businessman, not a student. He tried to approach me and there was a chat where he tried to get my attention by paying me something," said Siwi.

Siwi admitted that he received a total transfer of Rp.647.85 million and used the money for various personal interests.

"Is it true for traveling abroad, buying bags like BAP mother number 22 for sightseeing, shopping, buying Gucci jackets, and for beauty treatments in Korea?" asked the Public Prosecutor (JPU) of the KPK.

"Yes, I remember that," said Siwi.

Siwi also said that Farsha did not tell him what business he did so that he got the money.

"With Farsha I took about 4 months," added Siwi.

Siwi has already returned the money.

"I have returned the money in cash to the KPK investigators," said Siwi.

Siwi also said he had never met Farsha's parents.

"Farsha forbade me to meet her, she was not allowed to meet her father and mother," said Siwi.

Siwi said Farsha had also flown with him.

"He (Farsha) likes to ask where I'm flying to, then he goes on a business flight, at that time to Aceh," added Siwi.

Siwi said Farsha approached him first.

"He tried to (contact via) my WhatsApp. I don't know who he got my number from. He said it was from a friend but he never knew the story from whom, then it continued to Instagram and I happened to be still serving as a flight attendant in Yogyakarta. when I met Farsha," said Siwi.

Ask to buy

Farsha, who was also presented as a witness in the case, also confirmed Siwi's statement.

"At that time the person concerned (Siwi) asked to buy an item and I bought the item and I transferred it to Widi at that time," said Farsha.

The indictment states that Siwi Widi Purwanti, a close friend of Muhammad Farsha Kautsar, received a transfer of IDR 647,850,000 from April 8, 2019 to July 23, 2019, whose money came from Wawan Ridwan.

Wawan Ridwan during his time as an Intermediate Tax Auditor at the Directorate of Audit and Collection for the period 2014 - 2019 received an order from Angin Prayitno through Dadan Ramdani to get a fee from the audited taxpayers.

The money was divided by 50 percent for structural officials consisting of the Director and Head of the Sub-Directorate, while 50 percent for the inspection team with Wawan's distribution to get a total of 606,250 Singapore dollars or around Rp6.47 billion.