02.03.2012
The Attorney General’s Office questioned Dhana Widyatmika, a tax official suspected of money laundering and possessing unusually large bank accounts, for nine hours on Thursday.
In a bid to gather evidence of wrongdoing, the prosecutors confiscated Dhana’s 17 trucks after earlier seizing two luxury cars and gold bars at his home.
The case has added to suspicions of widespread graft at the tax office. It comes less than two years after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested another official, Gayus Tambunan, for having billions of rupiah in his accounts. He has since been convicted of multiple counts of corruption.
“We confiscated various brands of trucks as evidence of the money-laundering crimes,” AGO spokesman M. Adi Toegarisman said of Dhana.
After nine hours of questioning, Dhana left the interrogation late on Thursday but refused to talk to reporters. Prosecutors said the questioning would continue next Friday.
Dhana’s wife, Dian Angraeni, also a tax officer, was supposed to attend an interrogation session but failed to show up.
“She will also be questioned next week,” Adi said.
Dhana worked in the administrative department of the tax office in South Jakarta, but following publicity surrounding the case, he was transferred back to the Jakarta tax headquarters to facilitate the AGO’s investigation.
Media reports have said that Dhana had accounts worth about Rp 100 billion ($11.1 million), about one kilogram of gold, Rp 28 billion and $270,000 in cash and that he was known to have made a bank transfer worth $250,000.
Dhana was named a suspect because he was believed to have wealth inconsistent with his profile as a civil servant. He has a monthly salary of Rp 8 million.
Dhana’s lawyer, Reza Wijaya, dismissed suggestion that his client had such substantial amounts of money in his accounts.
“It is not that big,” he said.
Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo urged the law enforcement bodies not to stop with Gayus and Dhana.
“The emergence of Dhana’s case shows that the so-called tax mafia did not disappear with Gayus’s arrest. These two cases should be used as an entry point to crack down on this systemic practice,” he said.
Bambang said there should be a strong and unified political will from the government to combat the mafia.
Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said the tax office had buried the report on Dhana’s accounts prepared by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK).
“The information was submitted to the tax office in early 2011. It is very unfortunate that I did not have the report. Had I known about it earlier, I could have taken action quickly,” he said.
Agus ordered his subordinates to report similar incidents immediately to either the ministry’s inspectorate general or himself.
“All agencies must cooperate to fix the system,” he said.
The AGO named Dhana a graft suspect on Friday, but the tax office said it could not suspend him from his job until it had received official notification assigning him suspect status.
So far, his wife only remains a witness.
Director General of Taxation Fuad Rahmany said he was still waiting for the detailed report from the AGO on Dhana’s unusual accounts. Fuad acknowledged that Dhana held suspicious accounts but said the source of the funds was on clear.
“The report on suspicious accounts came from the PPATK. But we have yet to prove if the money come from bribery,” he said.
According to Fuad, his office issued disciplinary sanctions to 263 tax officers in 2011 and 39 in 2012.
He said the tax office had 32,000 employees.
“So, some of them may violate the regulations. The most important thing is that we build a system so that we can detect any violation taking place in the office,” Fuad said.
In a bid to gather evidence of wrongdoing, the prosecutors confiscated Dhana’s 17 trucks after earlier seizing two luxury cars and gold bars at his home.
The case has added to suspicions of widespread graft at the tax office. It comes less than two years after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested another official, Gayus Tambunan, for having billions of rupiah in his accounts. He has since been convicted of multiple counts of corruption.
“We confiscated various brands of trucks as evidence of the money-laundering crimes,” AGO spokesman M. Adi Toegarisman said of Dhana.
After nine hours of questioning, Dhana left the interrogation late on Thursday but refused to talk to reporters. Prosecutors said the questioning would continue next Friday.
Dhana’s wife, Dian Angraeni, also a tax officer, was supposed to attend an interrogation session but failed to show up.
“She will also be questioned next week,” Adi said.
Dhana worked in the administrative department of the tax office in South Jakarta, but following publicity surrounding the case, he was transferred back to the Jakarta tax headquarters to facilitate the AGO’s investigation.
Media reports have said that Dhana had accounts worth about Rp 100 billion ($11.1 million), about one kilogram of gold, Rp 28 billion and $270,000 in cash and that he was known to have made a bank transfer worth $250,000.
Dhana was named a suspect because he was believed to have wealth inconsistent with his profile as a civil servant. He has a monthly salary of Rp 8 million.
Dhana’s lawyer, Reza Wijaya, dismissed suggestion that his client had such substantial amounts of money in his accounts.
“It is not that big,” he said.
Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo urged the law enforcement bodies not to stop with Gayus and Dhana.
“The emergence of Dhana’s case shows that the so-called tax mafia did not disappear with Gayus’s arrest. These two cases should be used as an entry point to crack down on this systemic practice,” he said.
Bambang said there should be a strong and unified political will from the government to combat the mafia.
Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said the tax office had buried the report on Dhana’s accounts prepared by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK).
“The information was submitted to the tax office in early 2011. It is very unfortunate that I did not have the report. Had I known about it earlier, I could have taken action quickly,” he said.
Agus ordered his subordinates to report similar incidents immediately to either the ministry’s inspectorate general or himself.
“All agencies must cooperate to fix the system,” he said.
The AGO named Dhana a graft suspect on Friday, but the tax office said it could not suspend him from his job until it had received official notification assigning him suspect status.
So far, his wife only remains a witness.
Director General of Taxation Fuad Rahmany said he was still waiting for the detailed report from the AGO on Dhana’s unusual accounts. Fuad acknowledged that Dhana held suspicious accounts but said the source of the funds was on clear.
“The report on suspicious accounts came from the PPATK. But we have yet to prove if the money come from bribery,” he said.
According to Fuad, his office issued disciplinary sanctions to 263 tax officers in 2011 and 39 in 2012.
He said the tax office had 32,000 employees.
“So, some of them may violate the regulations. The most important thing is that we build a system so that we can detect any violation taking place in the office,” Fuad said.
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