January 18, 2011

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/ex-tax-director-maintains-stashed-billions-are-halal/417586

Prosecutors on Monday sought 15 years in jail for former tax director Bahasyim Assifie on charges of graft and money-laundering but dramatically revised the amount he allegedly raked in from a massive Rp 932 billion ($103 million) to about Rp 66 billion.

The defendant “has collected money worth Rp 60 billion plus $681,000 between 2002 and 2009 through illegal means by misusing his position and authority as a civil servant,” prosecutor Fachrizal said.

“And he never paid taxes for that amount of money.”

The amount is about two-thirds of that allegedly stashed away by rogue taxman Gayus Tambunan, due to be sentenced this week in his ongoing bribery trial. Prosecutors have demanded a 20-year sentence for Gayus.

Bahasyim kept his money in bank accounts in the names of his wife, Sri Purwanti, and his daughters Winda Arum Hapsari and Riandini Resanti, prosecutors said.

In the indictment, prosecutors had earlier claimed that they found over 300 transactions involving the family accounts worth a total of around Rp 932 billion. But on Monday they said that this was the total volume of transactions, and that the actual money involved was only about Rp 66 billion.

Bahasyim regularly circulated the money among the various family accounts in transactions so numerous that they raised suspicion at the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the prosecutor said.

Bahasyim also bought a house worth about Rp 8 billion in Jakarta’s high-end Menteng district in 2005 and registered it under his son’s name but could not prove the money came from legal sources.

“It came from his misusing of authority and power as a civil servant with the Finance Ministry’s tax directorate and with the National Development Planning Agency between 2002 and 2009,” the prosecution said.

They also accused the defendant of taking Rp 1 billion from business tycoon Kartini Mulyadi, but the prosecution failed to present her as a witness, instead just reading out her police deposition.

Bahasyim became director of tax examinations and investigations in the Jakarta VII tax office in October 2002, with the power to interrogate taxpayers, seize documents, launch searches and recommend legal action.

He held several positions in the Jakarta Tax Office between 2002 and 2007, and was moved to the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) in 2008.

“The defendant’s crime hampers the government’s anticorruption drive. He has shown no remorse, gave twisted testimonies and he has enjoyed the ill-gotten money,” the prosecution said.

Fachrizal also recommended that Bahasyim be fined Rp 500 million or face an additional six months in jail and that his remaining funds be seized for the state.

“Since the beginning, I have been judged by media reports. I was reported to have kept more than Rp 900 billion. Then I realized the amount was calculated from the total volume of transactions in the accounts,” Bahasyim told reporters after the trial.

“I only have around Rp 60 billion in investments, and I entrusted the money to a fund manager in [state bank] BNI. The money is ‘halal’ and I earned it while working as a civil servant in 1972 and from various businesses.”

His lawyer has previously said he had saved the money by running used-car and fishery businesses. The trial resumes on Monday to hear the defense.