Apr.10, 2010, 9:09 AM, Source: The Jakarta Post

The Jakarta Police have officially named former tax official Bahasyim Assifie, who made headlines when it was said he was linked to a high-profile tax brokering case, a suspect in a money laundering case.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said Friday the police investigation had found Bahasyim had transferred a total of Rp 64 billion (US$7.10 million) of “suspicious funds” to  accounts belonging to his wife and daughter.

“The suspect claimed that the money was a fee taxpayers paid him when he was working as a tax official,” Boy said following police questioning of Bahasyim for several hours.

According to Boy, Bahasyim transferred Rp 35 billion and $1 million to the account of his wife and Rp 19 billion to his daughter.

When the police investigators froze their bank accounts in late March, Boy said they had found the money was left untouched, reaching Rp 66 billion due to an accumulation of Rp 2 billion worth of interest. 

“As of [Friday], our investigation found 47 suspicious transactions related to the accounts and we will keep investigating the suspect on those transactions,” he said. 

The police, Boy went on, also investigated Rp 2.1 billion in an account belonging to Bahasyim’s other daughter, but had decided to exclude it in their upcoming investigation as they did not find this transaction suspicious. 

The Financial Transaction and Reports Analysis Center (PPATK) detected suspicious bank deposits made in the names of Bahasyim’s wife and children early last year.

During his 34-year tax office career plus two more years at the National Development Planning Board, it is reported that Bahasyim never received more than Rp 10 million in monthly salary.

Bahasyim’s fortune includes two houses in affluent Menteng area, Central Jakarta, and several other luxury houses located in Kalibata, South Jakarta, Depok and Bekasi, the PPATK said.

The money-laundering watchdog submitted its findings to the National Police in February last year but the case was not followed up. The watchdog reminded the police late last year of their findings, but said they were ignored.

The police’s reluctance rendered speculation that Bahasyim’s dubious funds were being accepted by law enforcers to terminate the investigation, as with the high-profile tax brokering case involving tax official Gayus H. Tambunan.

Gayus’ Rp 28 billion worth of suspicious funds, also detected by the PPATK, was allegedly paid to police to halt investigation.

The Jakarta Police’s commitment to investigating the Bahasyim case followed pressure from the Judicial Anticorruption Taskforce.

On Friday, Boy retracted the statement he made Thursday. Previously, he claimed that the police investigators did not meet Bahasyim for questioning. Later, he revised that the police had questioned Bahasyim three times since last month.

Separately, Bahasyim’s lawyer, John K. Azis, said his client had fulfilled police summons on his own accord, rebutting speculation that he was attempting to avoid police investigation.

“Pak Bahasyim followed media reports and widespread allegations that he had embezzled taxpayers’ money,” he said. “He felt uncomfortable about it and initiated to meet the police.”