TAX NEWS - JUNE 2010

Indonesia Tax: Gayus admits receiving money from companies over tax cases

03 June 2010 -- Graft suspect Gayus Halomoan Tambunan, a former officer at the Directorate General of Taxation, has said he received bribe money from companies to manipulate their taxes, a lawyer says.

"However, I don't know the exact amount of money," lawyer Pia Nasution said Thursday as quoted by kompas.com. She refused to reveal the names of the companies on the grounds that the information was court material.

Pia said that her client had handled taxes of Bakrie Group, which is owned by businessman and Golkar Party chief Aburizal Bakrie. "[Bakrie Group] is among the companies that he handled, but I don't know whether the group transfered money or not," she added.

Gayus has been named a graft suspect for illegally amassing Rp 25 billion (US$2.7 million) from taxpayers.