Farouk Arnaz & Irvan Tisnabudi – In an about-face on Friday, the National Police said they had no plans to investigate claims that Bakrie Group companies paid bribes to avoid taxes, despite a recent accusation to that effect by rogue former tax official Gayus Tambunan.

"While it's true that Gayus revealed details of his activities in the tax office, for the time being we've only called in representatives from four companies for questioning," police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said.

In a police report to the House of Representatives, the companies are identified as PT Surya Alam Tunggal Sidoarjo, PT Dowell Anadrill Schlumberger, PT Indo-cement and PT Exelcomindo.

Edward said the four companies were not linked to the Bakrie conglomerate but were among 149 corporate taxpayers handled by Gayus.

When asked if any of the 149 firms were Bakrie companies, Edward said: "I don't know. I can't recall them offhand. What I know for sure is that we've summoned these four companies, and they're not linked to any group."

He said none of the executives of the four companies had been named suspects in the case.

National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi was quoted as saying on Thursday that police planned to question representatives of the Bakrie companies that Gayus claimed had bribed him.

Gayus, who is being investigated for corruption and money-laundering, reportedly told police that several companies owned by the family of Aburizal Bakrie, the Golkar Party chairman, had bribed him to help them deal with their tax affairs.

Edward said Ito was misquoted. "Several news outlets reported on Friday that the National Police chief detective said we would summon executives from these companies for questioning. However, I've checked with Ito and he denied saying anything of the sort."

Also on Friday, Mas Achmad Santosa, a member of the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force, said Gayus mentioned the alleged Bakrie connection when he surrendered to the task force in Singa-pore in March.

"We didn't pay much attention to it," Santosa said of the discussion. "Our main focus at the time was to get him home to Jakarta. One of the things he told us was that the majority of his wealth came from Bakrie... [We] made him promise that he would tell police what he had told us."

Bakrie family spokesman Lalu Mara Satriawangsa called the accusations "baseless and untrue."

The interim director of intelligence and investigation for the tax office, Pontas Pane, confirmed on Friday that three Bakrie companies that owed Rp 2.17 trillion ($236.5 million) in back taxes from 2007 had paid the principal amount but still owed a 400 percent fine.

"The three companies [Kaltim Prima Coal, Arutmin Indonesia and Bumi Resources] recently paid their debt," Pontas said.

Dileep Srivastava, head of investor relations at Bumi Resources, said: "Bumi has always complied with the law and regulations i n all that we do. Our tax status is clear, audited and published in the public domain."

Golkar Party lawmaker Nudir-man Munir also brushed off Gayus's allegations. "I believe the whole thing is part of a personal vendetta by tax officials against companies linked to Aburizal," he said.

Taxes have long been rumored to be at the root of a political conflict between former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Aburizal, a conclusion she alluded to in press interviews before leaving last month for a job at the World Bank but which has been denied by Aburizal.

Gayus first popped up on the police radar when he was found to have Rp 28 billion in his bank accounts. He was tried for embezzlement, but was acquitted by the Tangerang District Court in March.

The case was resurrected when Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, the former National Police chief of detectives, alleged that three senior police officers had received bribes from Gayus.

[With additional reporting by Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Nivell Rayda & Muhammad Al-Azhari.]