Case Snowball Effect Mario Dandy Satrio

The suspect in the case of severe abuse, Mario Dandy Satrio (orange shirt) at the South Jakarta Police. (SCMP/Doc. South Jakarta Police)

JAKARTA - The case of dozens of years of abuse until he fell into a coma by Mario Dandy Satrio (20) like a snowball that rolled down and continued to grow. The public spotlight not only on his acts of persecution, but has spread to the issue of corruption of the officials of the Director General of Taxes.

Before resigning on February 24, 2023, Mario's father, Rafael Alun Trisambodo was an echelon III official of the Director General of Taxes who served as Head of the General Section of the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance, Regional Office of South Jakarta II.

Since the case went viral, various things about the family have emerged to the public, including Rafael Alun's assets which reportedly reached Rp56 billion. The public questioned how echelon III officials of the Director General of Taxes have such a large wealth.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani was furious. On the sidelines of a working visit to Bangalore, India, he immediately instructed the Inspectorate General to investigate the sources of staff/official assets that were suspected to be unnatural and take firm correction steps.

All 78,640 employees of the Ministry of Finance are required to report LHKPN assets and assets to officials submitted to the KPK, as well as LHK for employees submitted to the Inspectorate General, "ordered the Minister of Finance on February 24, 2023.

Sri acknowledged that the luxurious lifestyle behavior of Ministry of Finance officials, including the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) has created negative perceptions and erosion of trust from the entire community.

"It raises very serious questions from the public about where the source of luxury was obtained. I condemn, this clearly betrays and injures those who have and continue to work honestly, cleanly and professionally," said Sri Mulyani.

Sri also highlighted the existence of the Blasting club Rijder DGT, a community of tax workers who like to ride big motorbikes. According to him, the hobby and lifestyle of driving a Moge creates negative perceptions of society and raises suspicions about the source of the wealth of DGT employees.

"Although Moge was obtained and purchased with halal money and official salary; driving and showing off Moge for Tax Officials/Tax Employees and the Ministry of Finance has violated the principles of propriety and public appropriateness. I ask that the BlastingRijder DGT club be dissolved. This injures public trust," he said.

However, corrective actions must continue to be carried out consistently and firmly. People's trust should not be harmed and betrayed, Sri is committed: "We take care of it seriously and without compromise."

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) noted that throughout 2005-2019 there were at least 13 tax corruption cases that showed collusion between the government and the private sector. The common mode of tax corruption is bribery

Of all these cases, 24 tax workers were involved. The total bribe value of the total number of these cases reached IDR 160 billion. Of course, the value of state losses has not been calculated due to the reduction in tax payments by corporate taxpayers.

According to ICW, there were at least four corruption cases involving civil servants at the DGT and once attracted public attention. First, the case that ensnared Gayus Tambunan in 2010-2011. Gayus is known to have a fantastic account value of up to Rp28 billion, whereas at that time he was still class IIIA.

Gayus was proven to have committed bribes and gratuities, as well as money laundering. The Supreme Court sentenced Gayus to 26 years in prison for three corruption cases. Plus 3 years in the passport forgery case.

Second, the case that ensnared the former Head of the Jakarta IDX and Tax Investigation Office VII DJP of the Ministry of Finance, Bahasyim Assifie in 2011. While serving as Head of KPP Jakarta VII, KPP Koja and KPP Palmerah, Bahasyim abused his position to accumulate assets.

Kurun 2004-2010, the prosecutor indicated that the traffic in Bahasyim's account was unreasonable, reaching Rp932 billion. That does not include a house in Menteng worth Rp8.5 billion.

The Supreme Court through an cassation decision on October 31, 2011, sentenced Bahasyim to 6 years in prison with a fine of Rp. 500 million for corruption cases, and 6 years in prison with a fine of Rp. 500 million for money laundering cases.

Bahasyim had submitted a review on the grounds that the District Court, High Court, and Supreme Court had wrongly tried and decided his criminal case. He hopes to be released from the sentence that has been imposed on him.

Third, the case that ensnared Dhana Widyatmika, an employee at the DGT who was proven to have received gratuities with a total value of Rp. 2.5 billion, extorted, and laundering money.

On November 9, 2012, Dhana was sentenced to 7 years in prison by the Jakarta Corruption Court. The verdict was increased at the appeal level to 10 years in early 2013.

Dhana was proven to have committed a criminal act of corruption by accepting money related to her position as an employee of the Directorate General of Taxes, extorting, and committing a crime of money laundering. Dhana is considered proven guilty of extortion against PT Kornet Trans Utama.

The fourth case that ensnared Angin Prayitno Aji, an echelon II DGT official. On January 23, 2019, Angin was appointed as Director of DGT's Extensification and Assessment.

He is suspected of accepting bribes in order to manipulate tax provisions (SKP) from three large companies, namely PT Jhonlin Baratama, PT Bank Pan Indonesia Tbk or Panin Bank, and PT Gunung Madu Plantations. Angin and Dadan were named as suspects along with four tax consultants as the bribe givers. The value of the bribe is suspected to reach Rp50 billion," ICW wrote in its report in 2021.

Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Firli Bahuri during World Anti-Corruption Day at DGT in 2021 once explained that tax employees are vulnerable to corruption because of their great main task of authority.

Misappropriation has occurred since the initial administrative process, assessment, and the tax decision of a taxpayer, both private and agency.

"Taxpayers who are naughty certainly want to pay less than the actual tax value," he said.

In addition, DGT also has the authority to supervise taxpayers to the examination process in the judiciary, including the appeals court in the field of taxation. This is also a big challenge that often makes tax officials angry.

"So, it is not surprising that corruption in taxes usually occurs through three things, bribery, gratification, and extortion," he said.

Even so, Sri Mulyani is committed to continuing to maintain openness, transparency and accountability in carrying out her duties. He also invited the public to jointly oversee the performance of the institution he leads.

Come on! Watch it, report it and their legal process is corruption and misappropriation! We clean it up that is dirty! Support and appreciate those who work well, correctly and cleanly," said the Minister of Finance on his Instagram account on February 25, 2023.