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Tax leader in hot seat at House hearing
Legislators of a working committee on tax began its first show Wednesday, bombarding Director General of Taxation Mochammad Tjiptardjo with questions on the absence of supervision that lead to alleged widespread tax corruption
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egislators of a working committee on tax began its first show Wednesday, bombarding Director General of Taxation Mochammad Tjiptardjo with questions on the absence of supervision that lead to alleged widespread tax corruption.
Lawmakers then challenged Tjiptardjo to raise the target of the country’s income from tax if the claims were not many and Gayus H. Tambunan in the tax office was innocent.
“I believe there is no supervision in the tax office,” Edison Betaubun from the Golkar Party said in response to the statement from Tjiptardjo over the plan to beef up supervision of tax officers.
Gayus is a former tax official who was found to have Rp 28 billion (US$3.08 million) in his account, but has been acquitted in a graft trial.
On Wednesday, Gayus revealed 13 people involved in the case, including a middle-ranking officer at the tax office.
Legislator Andi Rachmat from the Democratic Party said that Tjiptardjo should have easily detected tax graft in his position as former director of intelligence and investigation at the tax office.
“I find it hard to believe that director general [Tjiptardjo] did not know about the “Gayus” case, as it’s his job to prevent graft,” he said.
He said that the working committee would raise its level of support if Tjiptardjo stepped down from the post.
Legislator Nusron Wahid from Golkar challenged the tax office under the leadership of Tjiptardjo to increase tax revenue to Rp 940 trillion this year.
“If it is true there are now only a few corrupt officials at the tax office, I dare you to increase the tax ratio to 16 percent or about Rp 940 trillion this year,” he said. Currently, the tax ratio is at about 13 percent.
He added that the tax office could no longer blame macro economics as a reason for low income from tax.
“It is due to the corrupt practice by wayward officers at the tax office,” he said.
In the meeting with the committee, Tjiptardjo said that his office had launched eight steps aimed to prevent other Gayus’ cases, including to boost supervision.
He said the office would conduct routine evaluation on the performance of tax officers as an early warning system to combat tax graft.
“We have also sent a letter to the Financial Transactions Analysis and Report Center [PPATK] to inform the tax office about the suspicious transactions involving tax officers,” he said.
The working committee, established last month before the Gayus case emerged, was previously tasked to investigate a Rp 51 trillion ($5.61 billion) tax arrears case involving 100 companies.
The commission is slated to summon former National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji to investigate the tax graft Thursday.
The National Police continued Wednesday to question seven officers as suspects in the tax evasion case brokerage that involves Gayus.
The seven suspects are Brig. Gen. Raja Erizman, Brig. Gen. Edmond Ilyas, Sr. Comr. Pambudi Pamungkas, Sr. Comr. Eko Budi Sampurno, Adj. Comr. Mardiyani, Adj. Comr. Sri Sumartini and Comr. Arafat Enanie.
“We have found violation,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said.
