Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said Monday that he was
surprised to learn that despite the tax crimes committed by suppliers of palm
oil company PT Permata Hijau Sawit (PHS), the court gave them only light
sentences, and the tax office continued to pay tax refunds to the company.
Agus told a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission XI on
financial affairs that the suppliers had underpaid their income tax obligations
and had then claimed tax refunds using fictitious transactions.
"We regret the income tax case, but then they stole state money through
fictitious tax refunds," Agus said.
Fourteen PHS suppliers had stolen state money totaling Rp 190 billion (US$20.5
million) through fictitious transactions, tempointeraktif.com
reported. Five of them had been convicted of stealing state money totaling Rp
156 billion.
"These suppliers were found guilty, but the sentence was so light, only
six months in prison. They should have got heavier sentence because they had
stolen state money," Agus said.
Despite the tax crime involving PHS, Agus revealed, the tax office still
disbursed Rp 198 billion in 2008-2009 tax refunds to PHS.
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