AGO Uncovers Alleged Tax Manipulation at PT TPL, Two Tax Officials Named Suspects

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has uncovered an alleged manipulation in the tax audit of PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) Tbk. The case, which relates to suspected transfer pricing, has implicated two civil servants from the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance as suspects. The two civil servants, identified by the initials BP and SR, are suspected of failing to carry out their supervisory functions properly during the examination of PT TPL. The Director of Investigations at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Saeful Bahri Siregar, stated that the suspects were named after investigators obtained sufficient evidence. The case concerns the export activities of PT TPL’s pulp commodities to affiliated companies. Investigators suspect there was an effort to report product sales values that did not reflect actual conditions. BP allegedly played a role as a supervisor during the DJP’s examination of PT TPL in 2023, while SR held a similar position during the 2024 examination. Both are suspected of neglecting their supervisory duties, resulting in an examination process that did not follow the established audit programme. The alleged actions are believed to have impacted state revenue, with the AGO provisionally estimating state financial losses at Rp2 trillion, though the figure is still being calculated by an auditor team.