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Tax graft suspect resigns as probe continues: Minister
An unidentified tax official is suspected of accepting billions of rupiah from a taxpayer to lower the latter’s dues.
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tax office staff member suspected of graft has resigned to ensure a smooth investigation into the alleged bribery case, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.
The unidentified staffer was named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly accepting billions of rupiah from a taxpayer to lower the latter’s dues. The anti-graft body is still investigating the case.
Sri Mulyani said Wednesday that the ministry's internal compliance unit and the KPK had been investigating the case since a member of the public lodged a report in early 2020.
“The Taxation Directorate General is doing research on the taxpayer allegedly involved, and if there is evidence of a shortfall in the tax payment, the directorate general will act on it in line with the prevailing regulation,” Sri Mulyani said in a virtual briefing on Wednesday.
The report comes at a time when the directorate general is in the middle of handling the annual tax returns (SPT) filed for individuals this month and for corporations in April.
Indonesia’s tax revenue took a hit due to the pandemic, contracting 15.3 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 68.5 trillion (US$4.8 billion) in January, Finance Ministry data shows. The tax-to-GDP ratio dropped to around 8.3 percent last year from around 9.8 percent in 2019.
The government has granted workers and companies tax breaks to help them stay afloat during the pandemic. Last year, a total of 464,316 taxpayers benefited from the incentives.
Sri Mulyani said the KPK’s investigation was not expected to disrupt the Taxation Directorate General’s work.
“In this situation, where we are facing COVID-19 and clearly need to maintain the economic recovery and state revenue to support the public in dealing with COVID-19 and to help businesses recover, this is a really disappointing thing for us all,” said the minister.
The minister went on to say that the public could report such cases through the ministry’s whistleblowing system as well as by e-mail (pengaduan@pajak.go.id) or phone (1500200).
When contacted by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, KPK spokesperson Ali Fikri said the graft watchdog could not provide further details on the case, such as names or the number of suspects.
“The KPK can only name suspects once they have been arrested. We hope the press understands this policy and will give our investigators time to finish their job,” Ali said.
He went on to say that the KPK would reveal all details of the case in the near future and would always inform the public about developments.
KPK deputy chairman Alexander Marwata first made the case public on Tuesday while talking to reporters in Jakarta. He said “the bribe was pretty big: tens of billions [of rupiah]” as reported by kompas.tv.
