ANOTHER TAX SCANDAL ABOUT TO BREAK

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 6 (ANTARA) - While investigators were working hard to uncover Gayus Tambunan's Rp25 billion tax fraud operation,  another alleged tax scandal which might be worth around Rp100 billion came to the surface on Tuesday.          President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono summoned Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati for an unscheduled meeting to discuss the alleged tax fraud.          Hendarman Supandji, after the meeting with  the President, admitted that his office was investigating a tax case which was based on a suspicious financial transaction report. It involved a far larger amount of money than Gayus Tambunan's.          The case began to surface following a statement of the head of the Financial Transactions Analysis and Reporting Center (PPATK) Yunus Hussein recently that his office had found a case which was bigger than that of Gayus Tambunan.          This case involves tax officials higher in rank than Gayus Tambunan who is now a suspect and under investigation over an alleged money laundering and tax evasion case worth Rp25 billion.          "The value of the new case is higher than that of Gayus and involved two or three tax officials," the Attorney General said but refused to disclose the amount of money allegedly corrupted.          Like the exact amount of money that the state might have suffered, the names of officials allegedly involved in it were neither mentioned yet.          Meanwhile, Constitutional Court chairman Mahfud MD claimed  he had also received a report from a legislator about a corruption case which, if disclosed, could create a public uproar.          "I received the report with strong evidence but I have no authority to handle it," Mahfud said on Tuesday. He said that the report he had received concerned the transfer of state money which violated the required procedures.          Maftud said he did not want to disclose the corruption case which could amount to around Rp100 billion, but hoped that a more competent authority would do it.          Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri when asked to confirm the case after attending the meeting with the president declined to explain it in detail saying only that police have to check the report in the first place. After all, coordination among relevant agencies must be conducted.          According to  PPATK head Yunus Hussein, his office had sent the report on the suspicious transaction to the Attorney General's Office (AGO), National Police and the Finance Ministry.          Hussein said since March 2009 he had reported the finding of suspicious accounts belonging to a former official of the Directorate General of Taxation worth more than what Gayus Tambunan had amassed.          At the AGO, the case has been referred to the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes for further examination. "We are still coordinating. We began investigating two or three weeks ago. It has been studied by the Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes and now I have referred it to the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes for further examination," Hendarman Supandji said.          Repeating a recent statement by the head of PPATK, Yunus Hussein, Hendarman  said the officials involved were higher in rank than Gayus Tambunan  and were also from the Directorate General of Taxation.          The value of the case was bigger than Rp25 billion which is the value of Gayus's case. "The value of the case we are handling is higher," Hendarman said.          Hendarman however declined to mention names saying they were still kept secret for the purpose of investigation. He only said that the new case involved three people.          The attorney general said reports from PPATK usually went to the Attorney General's Office and the police. In view of that he said his office also had to coordinate with the police with regard to deciding which agency would further handle the case.          Finance Minister Sri Mulyani meanwhile said if the case involved former officials of the Directorate General of Taxation it had to be dealt with by the office where the person was now employed.          "With regard to the PPATK finding I can not tell who they are but if the officials involved are within the structure it will certainly have implications. If they are former finance ministry officials or no longer in the Directorate General of Taxation it means the next step is in the hands of the offices which are employing the persons concerned," she said.           In order to settle the case, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the anti-judiciary mafia task force to unveil bigger cases in the future. Taskforce chief Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said the President had asked the taskforce to uncover veil big cases which had so far been covered up.          "He hoped in the future what he called the "big fish" which is a really big case could be uncovered to open cases hidden so far," he said.          On Monday, the president called for a thorough  investigation of the tax fraud case, saying anyone involved in it must be brought to justice. He believed that there had been a clandestine deal and conspiracy between tax officers and taxpayers.  (T.A014/A/HAJM/22:10/a014) 06-04-2010 22:35: