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30-year-old businesswoman from Banyumas regency, Central Java, identified only as D, has received mental health treatment in a local hospital after suffering from depression following her detention by the local tax office. The businesswoman was earlier detained for evading the payment of taxes amounting to Rp 3.9 billion (US$288,000).

Last week, the Central Java directorate general of taxation in the Surakarta and Purwokerto tax office arrested and detained D at the Banyumas detention center for her failure to pay the taxes, which have been accruing since 2012.

'€œFour days after being detained, my client suffered from serious depression. She frequently fainted and her mental condition was unstable,'€ D'€™s lawyer Djoko Susanto told the press in Banyumas on Thursday.

Djoko said his client could not bear the psychological pressure, being unable to imagine about how she would pay the tax arrears as her business had been bankrupt since last year.

Djoko said he would sue the tax office at the court for failing to conduct the detention according to prevailing procedures and without a prior trial. '€œWe have filed the lawsuit with the Purwokerto District Court,'€ Djoko said.

D'€™s husband, Muhammad Bagir, 34, said his wife had been in a grave condition since she was admitted to the Banyumas General Hospital (RSUD) a few days ago. He said she often fainted at the hospital.

'€œThe tax arrears were unintentional. Our business is really in bankruptcy,'€ Bagir said.

According to Bagir, he and his wife had started a business with Rp 200 million of capital in 2007 to supply staple foods and other daily necessities to modern stores and vendors in traditional markets. Their business quickly expanded into a multi-billion-rupiah operation.

Bagir said they had started to struggle in 2012 as some traditional market traders left unpaid bills amounting to almost Rp 2 billion. Unlike modern stores, vendors in traditional markets did not use tax invoices, Bagir added.

'€œWe handed over some of our assets to the tax office, but it refused to take them,'€ Bagir said.

Separately, Central Java Tax Office head Yoyok Satiotomo said that D'€™s detention had been conducted according to prevailing procedures since she had previously been sent a letter of notice to warn her of the impending action, as stipulated in Law No. 19/1997 as amended by Law No. 19/2000 on tax collection. He said the detention was made because D was seen as having the capability to pay the arrears, but did not have the intention to do so.

Previously Yoyok said that his office had prepared a cell at Batu Penitentiary on the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, for detaining major tax evaders. '€œThe cell is specially prepared for disobedient taxpayers having arrears amounting to billions of rupiah,'€ Yoyok said.

He also said his office had traced fictitious tax invoices worth more than Rp 21 billion in total from 63 taxpayers in 10 cities and regencies across Central Java. So far, he said, his office was still implementing persuasive measures and had not yet taken any legal steps.