{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1035027,
        "msgid": "defense-lawyers-want-clients-exonerated-1447893297",
        "date": "1996-06-26 00:00:00",
        "title": "Defense lawyers want clients exonerated",
        "author": null,
        "source": "JP",
        "tags": null,
        "topic": null,
        "summary": "Defense lawyers want clients exonerated JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers defending four suspects in a tax evasion and embezzlement case asked a court yesterday to acquit the defendants of all charges. \"It has not been proven that our clients have committed corruption, therefore they should be freed of all charges,\" lawyer Kurnianto Purnomo told the Central Jakarta District Court.",
        "content": "<p>Defense lawyers want clients exonerated<\/p>\n<p>JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers defending four suspects in a tax evasion<br>\nand embezzlement case asked a court yesterday to acquit the<br>\ndefendants of all charges.<\/p>\n<p>\"It has not been proven that our clients have committed<br>\ncorruption, therefore they should be freed of all charges,\"<br>\nlawyer Kurnianto Purnomo told the Central Jakarta District Court.<\/p>\n<p>Four men are charged with masterminding and establishing<br>\ncompanies to issue fictitious value-added tax invoices, sold for<br>\nbetween 6 and 30 percent of their face value, between March 1993<br>\nand June 1995.<\/p>\n<p>Suspects Hartono, 46, and Raden Ignatius Suarisman, 57, are<br>\nbeing tried by a team of judges led by I.G.K. Sukarata while<br>\nsuspect Baharuddin Umar, 46, and Tonny Effendy, 31, are being<br>\ntried by a team of judges led by Sartono.<\/p>\n<p>The four allegedly published 12,500 bogus VAT invoices issued<br>\nby 31 firms, costing the state tax revenue losses amounting to<br>\napproximately Rp 58 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecuting and defending lawyers are using different laws to<br>\nargue their cases.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecutors are charging the four suspects with a law<br>\nestablished in 1971 on corruption crime while defense lawyers are<br>\nusing a 1994 law on general guidelines of tax procedure to defend<br>\ntheir clients.<\/p>\n<p>\"The 1971 law is not a trash can that can be used to cover any<br>\ncrimes and not a particular case,\" lawyer Sudjono, representing<br>\nsuspect Suarisman, said, referring to the irrelevancies of the<br>\nprosecutors' charges.<\/p>\n<p>Entrepreneurs are obliged to collect 10 percent in value-added<br>\ntax when consumers make purchases. The difference between<br>\nincoming and outgoing taxes collected by entrepreneurs is the<br>\namount deposited with the state as value-added taxes. Exporters<br>\nare entitled to reclaim the amount of tax deposited with the<br>\nstate when the goods are exported.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors had earlier demanded that the men be sentenced to<br>\n14 years imprisonment and that each defendant should compensate<br>\nthe state with amounts ranging from Rp 10.5 billion to Rp 10.9<br>\nbillion in addition to a Rp 30 million fine each.<\/p>\n<p>The judges' verdicts will be announced on July 9. (14)<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/defense-lawyers-want-clients-exonerated-1447893297",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}