President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered law enforcers to get serious about tackling tax-related crimes.
His comments on Monday came as a corruption case involving a middle-ranking tax official continued to grip the nation.
“I want them [the tax criminals] to be revealed, hunted until everything has been cleaned up and the state no longer suffers losses,” Yudhoyono said before a cabinet meeting on the economy.
He said reports of tax embezzlement “bothered” him and the Gayus Tambunan case should be used as a catalyst to clean up the entire tax office.
“This is the time for us to seriously cleanse those things that could hamper our development in the future, so that future governments will inherit a better situation,” Yudhoyono said.
The president said the case of Gayus, who was found to have Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) in his bank accounts, was not merely a case of an errant tax official.
“A corrupt tax officer is a crime, a taxpayer who does not pay tax is a crime, a conspiracy that causes state loss is also a crime,” Yudhoyono said.
The president said tax conspiracies meant taxpayers paid only a fraction of what was due and tax officers cooked up the figures and pocketed a portion of the money.
“Of course we cannot tolerate this, especially when the state needs to fund our development agenda,” he said.
Yudhoyono called on law enforcers and the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force to report to him on what was being done to tackle the problem and how to prevent more offenses.
“The tax court is in reality fully loaded with mafia practices,” he said. “Such practices must be eliminated.”
Yudhoyono also reminded law enforcers to comprehensively deal with other crimes.
“I have to remind everyone that there are also other crimes, such as Bank Century,” he said. “I have received reports that crimes related to Bank Century have reached Rp 1.8 trillion. This must be solved.”
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said she would re-evaluate her whole ministry, including the tax office, after the revelations of the Gayus case.
“The most important thing is we have to secure our state revenue targets,” she said after the cabinet meeting.
“Reforms [will be done] from the aspects of integrity and performance, and violations will be corrected,” she added.
Sri Mulyani said she had asked the government’s Tax Supervision Committee and outsiders such as tax law expert Hikmahanto Juwana for advice.
“I have made a short-term plan,” she said. “I’ve also stated the eight steps we are working on, including checking wealth reports, officers’ attitudes and rebuilding the reputation and credibility of all officials at the Tax Directorate General.”
His comments on Monday came as a corruption case involving a middle-ranking tax official continued to grip the nation.
“I want them [the tax criminals] to be revealed, hunted until everything has been cleaned up and the state no longer suffers losses,” Yudhoyono said before a cabinet meeting on the economy.
He said reports of tax embezzlement “bothered” him and the Gayus Tambunan case should be used as a catalyst to clean up the entire tax office.
“This is the time for us to seriously cleanse those things that could hamper our development in the future, so that future governments will inherit a better situation,” Yudhoyono said.
The president said the case of Gayus, who was found to have Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) in his bank accounts, was not merely a case of an errant tax official.
“A corrupt tax officer is a crime, a taxpayer who does not pay tax is a crime, a conspiracy that causes state loss is also a crime,” Yudhoyono said.
The president said tax conspiracies meant taxpayers paid only a fraction of what was due and tax officers cooked up the figures and pocketed a portion of the money.
“Of course we cannot tolerate this, especially when the state needs to fund our development agenda,” he said.
Yudhoyono called on law enforcers and the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force to report to him on what was being done to tackle the problem and how to prevent more offenses.
“The tax court is in reality fully loaded with mafia practices,” he said. “Such practices must be eliminated.”
Yudhoyono also reminded law enforcers to comprehensively deal with other crimes.
“I have to remind everyone that there are also other crimes, such as Bank Century,” he said. “I have received reports that crimes related to Bank Century have reached Rp 1.8 trillion. This must be solved.”
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said she would re-evaluate her whole ministry, including the tax office, after the revelations of the Gayus case.
“The most important thing is we have to secure our state revenue targets,” she said after the cabinet meeting.
“Reforms [will be done] from the aspects of integrity and performance, and violations will be corrected,” she added.
Sri Mulyani said she had asked the government’s Tax Supervision Committee and outsiders such as tax law expert Hikmahanto Juwana for advice.
“I have made a short-term plan,” she said. “I’ve also stated the eight steps we are working on, including checking wealth reports, officers’ attitudes and rebuilding the reputation and credibility of all officials at the Tax Directorate General.”
House Set to Summon Susno
The House of Representatives Commission III overseeing law is holding a meeting today to discuss summoning the National Police’s controversial former chief detective, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji.
Commission chairman Benny Kabur Harman said on Monday that it was likely that the controversial general would be asked to appear this week in relation to the corruption case involving allegedly corrupt tax official Gayus Tambunan.
The level of corruption involving Gayus and by implication the Directorate General of Taxation came to light after the renegade Susno broke with the long-held rule against implicating collegues in corruption and idenfified two senior police officers as being involved in graft.
Benny said it was hoped that Susno would shed light on other major cases of corruption, adding that the commission would protect Susno.
"We will protect his bravery because we hope that he will give us more information," he said. "Gayus and Susno should be protected so they will be brave in revealing other cases."
The commission also plans to summon National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri.
The House of Representatives Commission III overseeing law is holding a meeting today to discuss summoning the National Police’s controversial former chief detective, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji.
Commission chairman Benny Kabur Harman said on Monday that it was likely that the controversial general would be asked to appear this week in relation to the corruption case involving allegedly corrupt tax official Gayus Tambunan.
The level of corruption involving Gayus and by implication the Directorate General of Taxation came to light after the renegade Susno broke with the long-held rule against implicating collegues in corruption and idenfified two senior police officers as being involved in graft.
Benny said it was hoped that Susno would shed light on other major cases of corruption, adding that the commission would protect Susno.
"We will protect his bravery because we hope that he will give us more information," he said. "Gayus and Susno should be protected so they will be brave in revealing other cases."
The commission also plans to summon National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri.
