Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar, Bali – An Indonesian tax official who claims he helped some of Indonesia's most powerful companies reduce their tax bills through millions of dollars in bribes provides the latest test case for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's drive against corruption. So far government authorities are failing.
Former tax investigator Gayus Tambunan has become a national anti-hero for his colorful antics over the past year, capped by his holiday getaway last month to the women's pro tennis tournament in Bali while he was supposedly locked up in a Jakarta jail. An usher recognized Gayus and alerted a pair of news photographers. Gayus' Bali disguise – a cheap wig with longish hair parted in the center and Clark Kent-style black framed glasses – inspired both mockery and look alike contests after his photo was splashed across national media.
Gayus said he wanted to meet Russian star Maria Sharapova, who withdrew from the event due injury, but there are reports he met a business tycoon who was also spotted at the tournament. Weekly newsmagazine Tempo ran a cover imitating the logo of the Elizabeth Gilbert's travel memoir to Italy, India and Bali Eat, Pray, Love, using money, chains, handcuffs and Bali's signature frangipani blossom to spell out "Meet, Pay, Rob".
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Held in a luxury jail for corruption and other uncommon suspects long believed to have a revolving door, Gayus admitted to bribing the warden with 368 million rupiah (US$41,350) plus 1.5 million rupiah weekly for guards to ferry him by motorcycle to a nearby gas station. From there, his wife or a driver picked up Gayus 68 times since July, an average of three times a week. Gayus said he was just doing what other inmates routinely did.
Gayus originally caught investigators' eyes in March last year. By age 30 he had managed to accumulate bank balances totaling more than $3 million, equivalent to more than 250 years worth of his 8 million rupiah monthly salary. Until reforms under Yudhoyono that began in earnest in 2007, the tax office was a notorious nexus of corruption with tax evasion the norm, lubricated by payments under the table to officials when bills came due. Prosecutors brought charges against Gayus and froze his bank accounts in October 2009 but unfroze them a month later. His trial began in January with prosecutors asking for a penalty of a year in jail.
Sharing the wealth
After a three-month trial, the court founded Gayus not guilty in March. That might have ended the story, except that, within a week of the verdict, former national police chief of detectives Susno Duadji told investigators that Gayus bribed police and court officials to obtain the acquittal.
The Judicial Mafia Task Force – established last year in response to trumped up charges against top members of the surprisingly effective Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) – announced that it was investigating the case. Gayus fled to Singapore, where he reportedly has assets in the millions of dollars, according to Indonesia's top tax official.
Police and task force members met with Gayus in a Singapore food court and persuaded him to return to Indonesia on March 31. He's been held in custody since then, except for the 68 excursions he has made from jail. His outings apparently included visiting a dentist, since a gap between his top front teeth seems to have been closed since September.
Under questioning, Gayus revealed that he accepted bribes to help more than 100 companies resolve tax disputes. He claimed to have received more than $7 million from major companies that faced potential tax arrears in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Gayus kept some of the money for himself and distributed the rest, he said during the questioning.
Big fish stew
The criminal justice system and Yudhoyono are treating the Gayus case like an unwanted hot potato, or more accurately like a ticking time bomb that needs to be disposed quickly and quietly. But Gayus, with his outrageous claims, his denials followed by a tearful admission that he did indeed visit Bali, and flaunting his wealth with the impunity usually reserved for much bigger fish, is making it very difficult to sweep his case under the rug.
Gayus went on trial last month for bribing law enforcement officials and misusing his authority, with prosecutors claiming he cost the state an estimated 500 million rupiah – a ludicrously small amount since police estimate Gayus' total ill-gotten wealth at 74 billion rupiah. At this week's session, prosecutors presented barely audible recordings of a police interrogation of one of Gayus' former lawyers and Gayus himself speaking with the Judicial Mafia Task Force. The quality of the recordings was so poor that judges ordered the playback stopped. A verdict is expected next month.
Meanwhile, there has been little reported movement in the investigation of Gayus' bribery claims. Police say they have spoken to all of the parties Gayus claims gave him illegal payments and the officials he shared those payments with. But there have been no files passed on to the prosecutors, nor has any suspect been named. Yudhoyono expressed confidence that the police and regular prosecutors can handle the case, even though they let Gayus go free before and are notoriously reluctant to act against politically connected suspects.
KPK deputy chairman Mochammad Jasin said the anti-corruption body is collecting information on Gayus' case. That could set the stage for the KPK to take over the investigation and prosecute the people and companies that allegedly bribed Gayus and his colleagues to illegally evade taxes. Gayus could yet become a key witness in cases with the potential to blow the lid off Jakarta's intertwined corporate and political worlds and push an honest but weak president beyond his comfort zone and towards genuine reform.
[Longtime editor of award-winning investor rights advocate eRaider.com, Gary LaMoshihas written for Slate and Salon.com, and works an adviser to Writing Camp (www.writingcamp.net). He first visited Indonesia in 1994 and has tracking its progress ever since.]