0 Boediono Praises Whistle-Blowers in Tax Cases

Vice President Boediono said the government would continue to unravel major cases of tax evasion and highlighted the need for better protection of whistle-blowers. The government recently enjoyed a big victory in tax collection after the Supreme Court last month ordered plantation conglomerate Asian Agri Group, part of billionaire Sukanto Tanoto’s Raja Garuda Mas International group, to pay Rp 2.52 trillion ($260 million) in back taxes and fines for tax embezzlement. The government “provides extra attention to the roles of justice collaborators. In Asian Agri’s case it was Vincentius Amin Sutanto. 

“Without the data and information provided by Vincent, there is little chance that the case could have been unraveled,” Boediono said. Vincentius, Asian Agri’s former finance controller, is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for embezzling $3.1 million in Asian Agri funds and for laundering the money. Boediono said that for his role in unraveling the case, the government had provided Vincent with sentence cuts. “Soon [Vincentius] will be up for parole,” the vice president said. 

Boediono also expressed his appreciation for other whistle-blowers like former tax official Gayus Tambunan, who is serving an unprecedented 30 years in prison for corruption and helped the government by showing just how rampant corruption was inside the taxation office. There are several more bribery cases beleaguering the tax office, all of which, according to Boediono, were revealed with the help of whistle-blowers. “This proves that the whistle-blowing system is working at the Directorate General of Taxation,” the vice president said. “At the moment, similar systems are being developed at the Justice Ministry as well as the National Police.”

source : the jakarta globe