Major tax fraud found at Garuda and PT Peruri

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police revealed on Friday major taxation scams at national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and state-owned securities papers and banknotes printing company PT Peruri.

City police detective chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo confirmed that three Garuda personnel arrested early this week were undergoing intensive questioning at Jakarta Police Headquarters.

"The three are a staff member of the taxation division, his assistant and an official of the general division," Alex told The Jakarta Post.

Police estimate the fraud inflicted material losses to the state of about Rp 33 billion (US$3.88 million).

The stage of the police investigation remains unclear, but Alex said public disclosure would be made as soon as the investigation was completed.

Commenting on PT Peruri, the senior colonel said there were no arrests so far.

"We have enough indications of the wrongdoing and we'll go to Peruri to coordinate with them to disclose the taxation case in the company."

Police believe the deception centered on diverting tax payments intended for the taxation office to particular banks, in complicity with several bank employees.

The latter issued fake receipts for tax payments and transferred the funds to different accounts, depending on the number of people involved.

On Wednesday Alex told a media gathering that 11 suspects were arrested in a taxation scam in privately run telecommunications company PT Telkomsel.

Suspects were three Telkomsel staff, three staff members of the taxation office and five employees of state and private banks.

Police reportedly confiscated Rp 2 billion in cash from one of the suspects on Wednesday and seized Rp 11.7 billion from others.

"The money will be sent back to PT Telkomsel with a small amount retained for evidence," he told the Post.

Alex said it was difficult to obtain the evidence because the funds were deposited in different savings accounts at various banks.

Based on the preliminary police investigation, the scam was allegedly carried out from last November until last month.

Many suspect the emergence of taxation scams is due to temptingly high bank interest rates of recent months. It is believed the alleged culprits used the funds to make short-term deposits for profit before executing the tax payments. (emf)