T

he Supreme Court denied Monday widespread allegations that its decision to favor coal-mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in a tax dispute with the government was "politically charged".

"There was no intervention from anyone toward that ruling. If some people say that there was intervention, please prove it!" the court's spokesman, Hatta Ali, said.

KPC is a subsidiary of PT Bumi Resources, a giant coal producer partly owned by the Golkar Party chairman, Aburizal Bakrie's company, PT Bakrie & Brothers. The company has allegedly evaded Rp 1.5 trillion (US$160.5 million) in taxes.

The court's ruling has drawn widespread public criticism.

Some lawmakers at the House of Representatives have demanded the Judicial Commission investigate to see if there were indications of violations of the judge's code of conduct by the Supreme Court judges who rejected the tax office's appeal.

In March 2009, KPC filed a complaint with the Jakarta tax tribunal after it received a letter from the tax office saying the company was under investigation. KPC complained that the investigation was not in line with legal procedures.

The company also filed a complaint over the investigation with the South Jakarta District Court. Both the tax tribunal and the district court favored KPC on procedure.

In response to the company's legal complaints, the tax office filed a case review request with the Supreme Court in February this year.

On May 24, the Supreme Court's panel of three justices, Imam Soebechi, Supandi and Paulus E. Lotulung, decided to reject the case review,

Hatta said that the ruling only decided if the investigation conducted by the tax office was in line with legal procedures or not. It did not deliberate about the validity of the tax evasion allegation.

He said the tax office still had a chance to re-investigate the alleged tax evasion case.

"What happened was just a procedural error ... The tax office could still investigate the alleged tax evasion," said Hatta.