Authorities Dismantle Counterfeit Stamp Duty Syndicate, Causing Rp1 Trillion in State Losses

The Special Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police and the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance have dismantled a syndicate producing counterfeit stamp duty. In this case, 3.4 million counterfeit stamps were seized.

Jakarta Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief Brigadier General Dekananto said the investigation began with information from the public and several police reports received by the Jakarta Metropolitan Police.

“The enforcement action carried out by the Jakarta Metropolitan Police together with the Directorate General of Taxes was conducted during June and early July in several regions, including Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and North Sumatra,” Dekananto said at a press conference on Wednesday (19/6).

In this case, police have named 16 people as suspects. They have the initials B, RC, M, TA, RTP, IA, F, H, RH, MIF, SNM, U, FF, NSA, P, and MO. They played different roles in the operation.

Based on the investigation, the suspects had different roles in carrying out their activities, ranging from producers, recyclers, couriers to sellers.

Director General of Taxes Bimo Wijayanto revealed that a number of pieces of evidence were seized in this case, including 3.4 million counterfeit stamps.

“Officers managed to secure more than 3.4 million illegal stamps, one production set machine, and three rolls of raw materials that could still be used to produce stamps in very large quantities,” he said.

“Based on the results of the joint investigation, the raw materials found are estimated to still be capable of producing more than 33 million stamps per roll. This means that if this activity had not been stopped, the potential loss of state revenue could have reached around Rp1 trillion,” he continued.

Bimo also said that the investigation found the syndicate had successfully sold 4 million stamps with a value reaching tens of billions of rupiah.

“We also obtained information that around 4 million stamps have been sold with a nominal value of around Rp40 billion,” he said.

For their actions, the suspects are charged under Article 24, Article 25 and Article 26 of Law Number 10 of 2020 concerning Stamp Duty and/or Article 382 of the Criminal Code and/or Article 383 of the Criminal Code.