The trial of tax official Handang Soekarno and the Managing Director of PT EK Prima Ekspor (EKP, a subsidiary of LuLu Group International) Rajesh \u201cMohan\u201d Rajmohanan Nair continues. \u00a0In\u00a0the hearing held on March 6, 2017, the court summoned several more witnesses to confirm the testimonies presented in previous trial session.\u00a0New names were mentioned.<\/p>\n

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) first\u00a0arrested Handang Soekarno, the Head of Initial Evidence Sub-Directorate at the Law Enforcement Directorate in the Directorate General of Taxation of the Ministry of Finance, and Mohan on November 21, 2016. From the arrests, the KPK also secured a sum of US$148,500 or approximately Rp1.9 billion.\u00a0<\/span>The KPK then named Handang and Mohan as graft suspects. It was later revealed that EKP had allegedly attempted to avoid paying their tax obligation.<\/span><\/p>\n

EKP had the obligation to pay Rp78 billion in tax arrears, but with Handang’s help, the Company\u00a0allegedly intended to avoid paying that bill. Mohan through his legal counsel Tommy Singh stated that the Company actually had received \u201cclearance\u201d status on the troubled tax bills, however, the tax office tried to toy with the Company. Tommy also said that the Company was intimidated by Handang and his two partners. When the Company wanted to participate in the Tax Amnesty program, the plan was strongly challenged by Handang. The speculation regarding the case grew wilder because the KPK decided to examine the Director General of Taxation Ken Dwijugiastaedi on the first week of January 2017. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It did not take long for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to finish the docket of investigation and to subsequently proceed\u00a0to the stage of prosecution for\u00a0Mohan. In\u00a0the hearing held on February 13, 2017, the indictment read states the bribery concerned the\u00a0billing and payment process of EKP\u2019s tax for\u00a0the period of 2014-2016, which among others consists of, filing a refund of excess tax payments (restitution), the invoice for value-added tax (STP PPN), denial of tax amnesty participation, repeal of the determination of taxable employers (PKP) and preliminary evidence examination.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case of the STP PPN and tax restitution, the EKP objected to several things including:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
• tax restitution for period of January 2012 to December 2014 amounted to Rp3.5 billion;<\/span><\/li>\n
• the bill for the payment of taxes on the purchase of cashews at Rp32 billion for the year of 2014 and Rp22 billion for 2015 (a total of Rp52 billion); and<\/span><\/li>\n
• tax arrears amounted to Rp26.4 billion for tax period of December 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  EKP first reported the application for tax restitution to the Head the VI Tax Office for Foreign Investment (KPP PMA VI) Johnny Sirait, but the application was rejected after\u00a0Johnny found out that the Company still owed tax arrears. EKP was then urged to participate in the tax amnesty program. But EKP\u00a0this plan fell apart\u00a0because there were\u00a0arrears. <\/span><\/p>\n

  Johnny then reportedly issued repeal of the determination of taxable employers (PKP) and suggested the office of Jakarta Special Regional Office for the Directorate General of Taxation (allegedly involving <\/span>the Director for Internal Submission and Transformation of Personnel Resources Harry Gumelar<\/span><\/i>) to examine EKP because there were\u00a0indications of tax crime. Johnny accused EKP of using fictitious invoices and conducting incorrect export activities. In the end, the tax office declared\u00a0<\/span>EKP problems could not be solved and advised the Company to meet with Handang Sukarno, who was\u00a0considered to be of\u00a0higher decision-making position, with the help of an intermediary.<\/span><\/p>\n

  The intermediary was supposedly Arif Budi Sulistyo, the director of PT Rakabu Sejahtra, a transformation from CV Rakabu, a plywood and furniture Company founded by President Joko \u201cJokowi\u201d Widodo. In the Company’s statute, the shareholders listed are the President’s oldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka and PT Toba Sejahtra belonging to the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Arif is married to the President’s younger sister.<\/span><\/p>\n

  Mohan reportedly asked for Arif’s assistance in arranging a\u00a0meeting\u00a0with the Director General of Taxation Ken Dwijugiasteadi, and along with the request, Mohan sent the EKP’s taxation documents to Arif. Arif, who’s reportedly a close friend of the Head of the Jakarta Special Regional Office for the Directorate General of Taxation Muhammad Haniv, sent a\u00a0message to Haniv and then Haniv sent a\u00a0message to Handang. The communications between the parties occurred in\u00a0the third week of September 2016. Handang took Arif to a meeting with Ken in the office of the Directorate General of Taxation on the last week of September 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

  The indictment did not mention the details of\u00a0the meeting, and why Mohan asked for help from Arif, but after the meeting, Ken reportedly ordered Johnny to cancel the repeal of the PKP issued by the KPP PMA VI. On October 2016, after Mohan met with Handang for a private settlement regarding the amount of compensation fee from EKP, Haniv issued letters to cancel the Company’s STP.:<\/span><\/p>\n

  \n
  1. letter No. KEP07997\/NKEP\/WPJ.07\/2016 for STP No. 00270\/107\/14\/059\/16; and<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. letter No. KEP08022\/NKEP\/WPJ.07\/2016 for STP No. 00389\/107\/14\/059\/16.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     With the cancellation, the EKP’s obligation to pay taxes became null.<\/span><\/p>\n

     In\u00a0the hearing held on February 27, 2017, Johnny Sirait spoke as a witness that he issued the repeal of the determination of taxable employers (PKP) because EKP did not use it wisely. Johnny said his decision was in accordance with the existing procedure. But later, his decision was cancelled by Muhammad Haniv.\u00a0<\/span>Johnny also said that on September 19, 2016, Haniv called him asking for the cancellation of the repeal of PKP, but Johnny refused by saying that the Company’s tax debts were unpaid. Haniv was reportedly enraged by\u00a0the answer, and on September 28, 2016, Haniv once again asked Johnny to cancel the repeal of EKP’s PKP.<\/span><\/p>\n

     For the hearing held on March 6, 2017, the Court summoned several parties including the Head of Examination, Billing, Intelligence and Inquisition Unit of the Directorate General of Taxation Wahono Saputro and two of EKP’s employee. The<\/span>\u00a0KPK prosecutors presented the transcript of a Whatsapp conversation between Handang and Wahono. The transcript clearly showed that Handang knew\u00a0exactly who was\u00a0behind Mohan and asked for Wahono’s help by saying that Arif was\u00a0the President’s brother. Wahono then replied by saying two suspicious phrases.\u00a0<\/span>The prosecutors asked about the meaning of the phrases, but Wahono said he only meant to hand over the problem to Handang and refused to be involved. Wahono also said that Haniv never asked for his help regarding the case. The statement is different from Johnny’s Sirait’s statement because Johnny said Haniv asked him to cancel the repeal of the PKP via Wahono.<\/span><\/p>\n

     Another witness present at the hearing was EKP’s employee Yuli Kanestren. Yuli said that the Company had meant to bribe\u00a0not only Handang but also several officials in the Directorate General including Haniv. The prosecutors read Yuli’s summary of investigation and asked about the involvement of one \u201cHusin\u201d. Yuli said Husin referred to\u00a0<\/span>Husin Bagis<\/b>, the Indonesian Ambassador to UAE. Yuli said the Company communicated with and asked for Husin’s opinion regarding the issue. Husin also once suggested that the Company report the problem to Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.\u00a0<\/span>The statement is similar to the statement given by EKP’s Chief Accounting Siswanto. Siswanto said that to\u00a0resolve the tax issue, he communicated with Haniv. Siswanto also communicated with Husin at Mohan’s instruction.<\/span><\/p>\n

     By Pradnya Paramitha<\/span><\/p>\n

     Copying, redistributing, and retransmitting this article is a violation of copyrights.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

     The trial of tax official Handang Soekarno and the Managing Director of PT EK Prima Ekspor (EKP, a subsidiary of LuLu Group International) Rajesh \u201cMohan\u201d Rajmohanan Nair continues. In the hearing held on March 6, 2017, the court summoned several more witnesses to confirm the testimonies presented in previous trial session. New names were mentioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49349"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49357,"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49349\/revisions\/49357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yosefardi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}