SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Indonesian government is currently investigating the leaked documents which have come to be known as the Panama Papers, in an effort to ensure no one is evading taxes in the largest Southeast Asian country.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has promised to announce the results to the public, as well as the names of Indonesian citizens in the documents leaked from the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in offshore accounts.
“The results of the investigation will be disclosed once we finish,” Jokowi said in Maluku province on Wednesday, April 6th.
Some Indonesian names listed on the Papers include Jakarta 2017 gubernatorial candidates Sandiaga Uno, and two others that have allegedly been involved in corrupt activities like Riza Chalid and Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra.
Tax amnesty bill
The authorities are also studying and examining the data, to match it with data they already have, to see what methods are used by many wealthy Indonesians to avoid paying taxes – and to see who exactly is evading taxes.
“Money laundering is not my focus. I look at who already paid taxes or not. We will check. We’ve got the data itself, but we can use the Panama Papers as an additional reference,” Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said.
Government also hopes to use to data to push for a tax amnesty bill pending in Congress, which aims to get Indonesians to pay their taxes properly.
Director General of Taxation Ken Dwijugiasteadi meanwhile said his department “will retrieve those unpaid taxes worldwide.”
One of the biggest document leaks in history snared world leaders, celebrities, and sports stars in a snowballing worldwide scandal Monday, April 4, over their secretive offshore financial dealings.
A year-long worldwide media investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents, leaked from a Panama-based law firm with offices in 35 countries, exposed a tangle of confidential financial dealings by the elite, from aides of Russian President Vladimir Putin to relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, sports celebrities and screen stars.
The Panama Papers was obtained from an anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than 100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Offshore financial dealings are not illegal in themselves but may be abused to hide assets from tax authorities, launder the proceeds of criminal activities or conceal misappropriated or politically inconvenient wealth.
The Panama Papers is now prompting governments around the world to investigate financial wrongdoing and find back the lost revenue.– with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.