ICW alleges graft case at tax office

Eny Wulandari ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 04/01/2009 2:46 PM  |  National

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on Wednesday reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) that an alleged graft case had taken place at the Taxation Directorate in 2004, causing up to Rp 1.6 billion in state losses.

Direct appointments and illegal transactions had taken place in a project that was meant to compile information for a taxation database for land and buildings in Central Java, ICW data and analysis chief Firdaus Ilyas said Wednesday.

"We suspect there was a conspiracy between private companies PT Disiplan Consult, Exsa International and Sucofindo that took part in a project tender to help Sucofindo win the tender," Firdaus told journalists at the KPK headquarters in Jakarta.

The companies had fixed prices for the project and had directed Sucofindo to be the tender winner, with help from the project organizer and a tax official identified as AB, he said.

"Sucofindo created five fictitious contracts worth Rp 1. 6 billion, thus causing the project value to increase to Rp 3.1 billion. The company, instead, gave Rp 1.6 billion to Disiplan Consult and Exsa for their help during the bidding process," he said.

The embezzlement was also recorded by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) that reported there had been a misappropriation of Rp 1.6 billion from Central Java's 2004 budget, Firdaus said. (dre)

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