The government claims to have obtained data on bank accounts of Indonesian citizens trying to hide their funds abroad.

Indonesians, according to the Finance Ministry, typically create special purpose vehicles (SPV) in other countries to avoid taxes and hide the actual profits of companies they own, in places such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands.

"We have already identified the pattern, the most popular being the British Virgin Islands, then the SPVs store the money in other countries," Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting.

The Finance Ministry claimed to have already identified the banks and accounts, adding that it had details on 6,000 accounts directly owned by Indonesians and 2,000 SPVs linked to Indonesians.

The funds were apparently not reported to the government as taxable assets. "We will catch [the owners]," Bambang said.

He expressed hopes that account holders would deliberately report foreign assets to the government through the recently introduced tax amnesty program. (dan)(+)

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