Employee's name used to set up phantom firms

Employee's name used to set up phantom firms

JAKARTA (JP): A witness told a court hearing yesterday that
his employer had exploited his name to setting up companies.

"I was just a clerk. My superior asked me if he could use my
name to establish more firms," Muri Hendriyadi, told the Central
Jakarta district court.

The employee worked at a office in Roxy district which
operated some 20 companies now being tried for selling false
value added tax invoices.

Muri added he went to a notary to register the companies
together with suspects Hartono and Baharuddin Umar.

Previous hearings confirmed that those companies, although
registered at the Justice Ministry, did not really have any
business other than selling bogus value added tax invoices.

Muri said that the new companies were established when the
existing companies were not able to handle the high rates of
turnover.

Four businessmen -- Baharuddin Umar, Tony Effendi, Hartono and
Raden Ign. Suarisman -- are being tried for falsifying and
selling value-added tax invoices, costing the government Rp 58.3
billion in lost tax revenues from 1993 to 1995. The four are
being tried separately in two court hearings.

Bookkeeping for goods transaction was nonexistent, and records
were kept only for the invoices themselves, witness Muri said.

Another witness, Fahrinur Ismail, who also an employee at the
same office told the court that suspect Hartono acted as the
operation manager as a syndicate.

"I worked directly under Hartono, typing out invoice orders he
used to bring in before we got a fax machine," Fahrinur said.

Hartono had denied his involvement with the syndicate in
previous hearings.

Fahrinur claimed that he only realized a year later that those
invoices were bogus.

He added that several employees, including himself, wanted to
resign on finding out, but that Hartono said he would be
considered responsible.

Muri and Fahrinur told the court that they did not know where
the invoices went.

Another witness, Edi Sutanto, a director of a construction
company, also testified as witness. Edi said he purchased
building material from a shop and paid value added tax for the
transaction. He found out later that the tax invoices were signed
by suspect Hartono.

The hearings was adjourned until Thursday. (14)