Bali Police suspect tax official in embezzlement case

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Ni Komang Erviani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Fri, 04/03/2009 2:19 PM  |  Bali

In a move praised by Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika, Bali Police have officially named Made Sujana, a tax collector at the Bali Revenue Agency, as a suspect in a graft case.

Spokesman for the Bali Police Sr. Comr. Gde Sugianyar said Thursday that the suspect was arrested on March 25.

Made is being detained at the Bali Police detention facility.

“He has confessed to forging Underground Water Springs (ABT) tax invoices sent to companies utilizing underground water springs,” Sugianyar said.

“The suspect didn’t send the tax payments to the revenue agency.”

Detectives working on the case believe that Sujana has embezzled up to Rp 820 million (US$71,000) of tax payer’s money.

If found guilty Sujana faces a sentence of up to five years imprisonment.

The case was uncovered after the Bali provincial administration conducted an inspection of revenue intake from underground water and found that the suspect had forged tax invoices between January and December 2008.

Earlier on Wednesday Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said that he expected the police to investigate the case thoroughly.

“I’m asking Bali Police to further investigate to find any other perpetrators possibly related to the case,” Pastika said.

“How humiliating.a hotel paid Rp 10 million for underground water but the collecting officer saved it for himself and only left Rp 1 million for the office.”

“That is why we received just Rp 10 billion in underground water taxes in 2008 while we could have actually collected up to Rp 50 billion.”