Jakarta, IO – Former tax official Rafael Alun Trisambodo (RAT) was detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Monday (3/4) over allegation of gratification.
“For the purposes of investigation, RAT was detained for an initial period of 20 days, from April 3-22 at KPK detention center,” said KPK chairman Firli Bahuri, reported Tempo.co, Tuesday (4/4) .
RAT was named a suspect in receiving gratification worth US$90,000 through his tax consulting firm PT Artha Mega Ekadhana (PT AME) in the 2011-2023 period.
Bahuri revealed that the case began when Rafael was appointed as a tax investigator in 2005. He was given the authority to conduct research and examine tax irregularities from taxpayers who did not comply with the provisions or tried to evade paying due taxes. Until 2011, he was the Head of Tax Audit, Investigation and Collection at Taxation Directorate Generate (DJP) East Java regional office.
Firlu said his position enabled him to receive gratification from several dishonest taxpayers. “Whenever taxpayers experience problems in tax settlement, RAT is suspected of actively recommending PT AME,” he said.
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Bahuri said KPK is also looking at charging RAT with money laundering because the graft busting agency has found a predicate crime, namely the gratification. He said this is important as part of the asset recovery process so KPK can confiscate more of his assets and hand them back to the state. (un)