Supreme Court holds Tommy's tax document

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court's deputy chief justice for civil and administrative courts, Paulus Effendi Lotulung, said on Wednesday the court possessed the reportedly missing decision in a case involving a company belonging to fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Speaking to journalists in his office, Paulus said the Supreme Court asked the Jakarta State Administrative Court on Monday if it still had a copy of the Supreme Court decision.

"We took the original document and all of the supporting papers regarding the case with us to the administrative court just to make sure that none of them were missing," Paulus said.

Minister of Finance Rizal Ramli announced last week that the government could not hold Tommy's automotive company PT Timor Putra Nasional responsible for its tax debt of Rp 3.2 trillion (US$285 million) because the original copy of the Supreme Court decision had disappeared.

A copy of the decision had been received by Timor Putra, Rizal said, but without the original document the government could not force the company to pay its tax debts.

Paulus said if the government could not execute the decision because it had lost the document, it should go to the administrative court, not the Supreme Court, to request a new copy.

"The Supreme Court will not to fulfill their demand (to produce a new copy of the document) because we do not have the capacity to make a new copy," Paulus said.

According to Paulus, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by Timor Putra on Nov. 13, 2000, and sent a copy of its decision to the administrative court on April 30, 2001.

"The decision, of course, means that Timor Putra must fulfill its obligation," Paulus said.

The tax dispute between the government and Timor Putra arose when the government demanded the company pay import duties and other taxes on the Timor cars it imported from South Korea. Timor Putra was initially exempted from the duties and taxes.

Paulus also said Timor Putra was involved in another court battle against the Directorate General of Taxation over the tax dispute. The tax office won the case at both the Central Jakarta District Court and the Jakarta High Court.

Timor Putra has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, but Paulus said his office had not received the documents from the Jakarta High Court. (02)