Mar'ie vows to fight fake exports

JAKARTA (JP): The government will take strict measures against exporters found guilty of falsifying exports as a means of profiting from export facilities, Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad says.

"We are scrutinizing companies suspected of getting involved in reporting fake exports to accrue benefits from export facilities and we will make a public announcement as soon as we finish," he announced yesterday.

"And you should know, the government will never compromise with exporters or officials who are found to be involved in malfeasance or irregularities," he said.

"Give me a few days, please, and we will unveil the result of the scrutiny," said Mar'ie, who appeared preoccupied with the problems caused by the bad debts of textile manufacturer PT Kanindo Success Textile.

M. Tjoek Soeroso, head of the Ministry of Finance's Agency for Export Facilities and Financial Data Analyses (Bapeksta), told reporters on Thursday that the ministry had found indications that certain export documents had been tampered with.

"At least 15 exporters are now under examination by our agency," he said. "One of the alleged exporters is PT Detta Marina (DM) which likely made 'fictitious' reports on exports to Singapore."

According to Tjoek, the agency has found that almost all of the 15 exporters examined have defects in their financial and administrative reports.

"Their reports have no clear dates on imports of raw materials, no details on the processing of the materials and sometimes no reliable information on the export destinations," he explained.

"Such bad administrative performance clearly indicates that exporters may hide any irregularities in their business, although they are not always justified," he argued.

Through a series of deregulatory measures introduced over the past few years, the government allows exporters to receive duties and value added tax that they have paid for the imports of raw materials as soon as they export the products.

By filing fake reports on exports, exporters can make money by receiving import duties and value added tax that is not rightfully theirs.

However, Mar'ie said yesterday that "if government officials are involved in the export document manipulation, people should not soon come to the conclusion that the government's supervisory management is poor."

Detta Marina

Tjoek also expressed concern that Detta Marina, whose executive reportedly wants to take over the debt-ridden textile business of Robby Tjahjadi, a former luxury car smuggler turned businessman, has tried to manipulate export documents.

"We are still awaiting final examinations on Detta Marina's export activities," he said. "Its documents show that the company exported 41,280 jackets on April 19 by using the Apollo ship through Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta," he added.

But according to administrative authorities at Tanjung Priok, the Apollo did not berth at the port on April 19, Tjoek said.

He said that Detta Marina as of last December stopped using the services of Bapeksta and, instead began using the export facility offered by the Directorate General of Customs and Excise to exporters operating at ports of entry.

By using the latter facility, exporters need only one week to regain import duties, as compared to the two weeks offered by Bapeksta. (fhp)