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Gayus may have caused state losses of Rp 1.5t: Investigator

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 02/24/2011 8:49 PM | National

Gayus H. Tambunan’s mismanagement of the taxes of 19 companies may have caused the state to suffer losses amounting to Rp 1.52 trillion (US$171.8 million), a former leader of the Gayus investigation team said Thursday.

Insp. Gen. Matheus Salempang mentioned the sum during a meeting with the working committee for tax matters at the House of Representatives’ law commission.

Gayus mentioned a similar amount when the independent investigation team asked him to note potential state losses during their investigation.

“We have to prove [Gayus’ claim],” Matheus said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The team has already investigated four of the 19 companies.

It also revealed five tax evasion methods that Gayus often practiced.

One was persuading tax officials to ask for a company to pay a lower amount than what was stated in the law.

The second and third methods involved the processing of tax objections at the tax objection and appeal directorate of the tax office and at the tax court.

The fourth technique involved tax officers consulting beyond their authority, and the fifth involved tax officials withholding tax notification letters. “The letters would only be issued after [coming to] certain deals,” Matheus said.