Major tax fraud found at Garuda and PT Peruri
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)