KPK Chief: Seizure of Counterfeit Tax Stamps Does Not Affect Case at Customs

The Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Setyo Budiyanto, said the seizure of millions of counterfeit tax stamps in Jepara Regency and Semarang City, Central Java, does not influence the investigation into alleged graft within the Directorate General of Customs and Excise. ‘I think it does not affect, because at the Directorate General of Customs there is authority to conduct investigations as well,’ Setyo told reporters in Serang, Banten, on Thursday, 21 May. The retired three-star police general added that the investigations by the KPK and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise are two different matters and will not overlap. ‘They will be different, and there will be no mixing or overlapping in their investigative processes.’ Reports cited that the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, together with the Indonesian Army’s Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS), reportedly uncovered a syndicate producing and hoarding illegal tax stamps on a large scale in Central Java. The joint operation in Jepara Regency and Semarang City reportedly yielded millions of counterfeit tax stamps, several industrial printing machines, and a number of people believed to be involved. The illicit activity is alleged to have caused the state losses of around Rp570 billion. Separately, the KPK is investigating a bribery case related to cigarette excise administration. The KPK already holds information and data on cigarette companies that paid money to employees and officials at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise to manipulate cigarette excise. The bribery allegations are an extension of a bribery case in importation of goods that was recently revealed and has implicated the Director General of Customs, Letjen TNI (Ret) Djaka Budi Utama. In a trial at the Jakarta Pusat Corruption Court (Tipikor), with defendant John Field, Owner of PT Blueray, and others, on Wednesday, 20 May, it emerged that an envelope containing 213,600 Singapore dollars with the code Sales 2-1 DIR was referenced by KPK prosecutors as referring to the Director General of Customs.