Bribery scandal
The mass media has recently carried many reports on alleged bribery of Indonesian tax officers and other government officials (from the State Secretariat and the National Development Planning Board) by a number of Japanese contractors operating in Indonesia. They reportedly included Kajima, Taisei, Obayashi, Tekken, Tokay Kagyo and also Udinda, an Indonesian enterprise, and were aimed at either obtaining tax concessions or winning tenders of projects financed by Japan's Overseas Development Agency. Bribes reportedly came to hundreds of millions of yen or tens of billions of rupiah. Allegations were exposed by Japan's tax bureau, which carried out its investigation into the head offices of the above Japanese contractors in Japan.
The Indonesian government must pay serious attention to this matter to ensure that its reputation will not be tarnished and also that such cases, if true, will not recur. To show its sincerity in this respect, the government must carry out its own thorough investigation and bring to court anybody accused of bribery pursuant to Anticorruption Law No. 3/1971. In Indonesia, those authorized to conduct this investigation are the Directorate General of Taxation, the Inspector General of the Ministry of Finance, the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), the Police and the Attorney General's Office.
They all must establish cooperation in carrying out this investigation, which may be conducted as follows:
(a) All tax documents kept at the Directorate General of Taxation must be examined to find out whether there are any irregularities. As these contractors are foreign companies, the tax documents may be kept at the Jakarta Tax Service for Corporate Taxpayers and Aliens. Information must be sought from tax officers handling tax requirements of these Japanese contractors in 1996 and 1997.
(b) The Directorate General of Taxation can contact Japan's tax bureau to request information about the results of its investigation. Indonesia and Japan have signed an agreement on an exchange of tax information regarding taxpayers in the two countries.
(c) Summon and examine the representatives in Indonesia of the Japanese contractors to determine to whom the alleged bribes were made.
The Directorate General of Taxation must not remain idle on the pretext that the mass media reports are general in nature and lack clarity. Please pay attention to this matter. Government officials involved in corruption must not be protected.
SUHARSONO HADIKUSUMO
Jakarta