Director admits setting up bogus company

Director admits setting up bogus company

JAKARTA (JP): A company director admitted to a court yesterday
that he established bogus firms which were later implicated in a
tax evasion case.

"I borrowed Sumarno's identification card to institute firms
as ordered by my father," Dominikus Setia Ritaka, taking the
witness stand in the trial of his father, Raden Ign. Suarisman,
told the Central Jakarta district court.

According to Dominik, his father also installed him as a
director of PT Sandang Tirta Bening Raya, whose activities and
operations Dominik knew nothing about.

Dominik's testimony was not conducted under oath but suspect
Suarisman did not have any objections to it.

Four businessmen including Suarisman are being tried for
masterminding and establishing companies to publish bogus value-
added tax invoices sold only at ten percent of their face-value
between 1993 and 1995, thereby defrauding the government of Rp
58,3 billion.

The three other suspects, Hartono, Baharuddin Umar and Tony
Effendy were being tried in two separate hearings on Tuesday.

"I never asked my father about anything he ordered me to do, I
signed many blank VAT invoices and acted as a company director,"
Dominik timidly told the court, adding that he was paid Rp
250,000 every month.

Sumarno, also taking the witness stand, told the court that as
he was allured by the seemingly easy Rp 500,000 a month fee
acquired by allowing his name to be used by suspect Suarisman to
establish a firm he knew nothing about for three months.

"My parent's address was used as the firm's address," Sumarno
said.

The four suspects allegedly established a total of 31 bogus
companies.

Six other witnesses, all entrepreneurs who bought the false
value-added tax invoices, told the court that they had paid the
full amount of the value-added tax as was written on the
invoices.

The entrepreneurs were first notified that there had been
problems with their VAT invoices following an audit by the Tax
Directorate. All entrepreneurs testified that they did not know
anything about the problematic VAT invoices until the
notification. (14)