Sri Mulyani Indrawati: ANTARA

The cases revolved around fictitious claims for tax refunds involving a North Sumatra business group known by the initial PHS. The leader of the group, under the initial of R, is believed to have fled the country after plundering Rp 300 billion.

Another case involved an unofficial tax consultant identified by the initials Sol, and a service company identified by the initial W with its leader, identified by the initials TKB. They are reported to have caused losses worth Rp 247 billion and Rp 60 billion respectively.

Investigation is also underway  on around 100 taxpayers suspected of engineering fictitious claims for tax refunds on value-added tax (VAT), and falsifying tax invoices.

The taxpayers are based in Jakarta, Medan in North Sumatra, Bandung in West Java, and Surabaya.

According to the Finance Ministry, the tax crime method was to make a fictitious transaction between firms to produce a VAT bill. Through loopholes in the tax system, the companies then filed a claim in the form of a tax refund.

“As the method is very systematic, the ministry has expanded its investigation to detect the involvement of tax officials by deploying a joint team consisting of the internal investigation division and the tax office’s internal supervision unit.”  

“The investigation will reach the highest level,” she said.

The ministry will also investigate retired tax officials working as tax consultants.

There are 32,000 tax officials throughout the archipelago, supervised by only eight investigators  and  supervisors at the directorate of internal compliance of the Directorate General of Taxation in Jakarta, according to the chairman of the Committee for Tax Supervision Anwar Suprijadi. — JP

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