•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Jakarta. The much-anticipated trial of rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan got underway on Wednesday, with the defense team vowing to use it to unravel a vast web of case brokers within the government.

Gayus first stood trial in March on embezzlement charges after he was found to have Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) in his personal bank accounts.

He was acquitted, but later rearrested after former National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji said the judge, police investigators and prosecutors had been bribed to drop the more serious money-laundering charge against Gayus.

The sordid revelations of institutional corruption and the apparent gagging of Susno, now in police custody, have since gripped the public’s attention.

At Wednesday’s first hearing in the South Jakarta District Court, prosecutors outlined their charges against Gayus, who could face life in prison if convicted.

However, lead defense counsel Adnan Buyung Nasution, a former presidential adviser, said he was disappointed at the prosecutors’ failure to identify more than one company that had allegedly bribed Gayus to fudge their tax returns.

“There’s a lot of mystery in this case,” said Buyung, who famously agreed to represent Gayus solely to help uncover corruption within law enforcement agencies and the tax office.

“There are many things that could be unraveled here, but it seems the prosecutors are opting not to eradicate graft for real.

“The defense, however, will unravel everything, including identifying the major companies that had bribed Gayus.”

The trial has been adjourned until next Wednesday, when the defense is scheduled to present its opening arguments.

Gayus, who was also found to have Rp 74 billion in gold bars and foreign currency stashed in a safe-deposit box, previously said most of his fortune came from bribes from 44 companies, including miners Kaltim Prima Coal, Arutmin and Bumi Resources.

All three are owned by the family of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, and were previously embroiled in a spat with the tax office over unpaid taxes.

However, police have only investigated four other companies, identified only as SAT, DAS, E and I. No charges have been pressed against any of them.

“Police have failed to investigate the case thoroughly and are inconsistent in seeing that those who violated the law are prosecuted,” Jamil Mubarok, an antigraft activist from the Indonesian Transparency Society, (MTI), told the Jakarta Globe.

“They should have charged those who worked with Gayus in the tax evasion scheme, including his superiors. The tax office conducts regular assessments of the performance of its officials, and all cases of tax evasion are monitored, so it’s impossible to believe that Gayus worked alone.”

Yanuar Rizky, an independent banking and financial analyst, said the government should also be held accountable for not catching major tax evaders.

“The credibility of the president is on the line because he promised that all perpetrators would be prosecuted,” he told the Globe.

The Finance Ministry, under whose auspices the tax office falls, has pledged to evaluate all the tax cases handled by Gayus.

However, none have been reopened since the controversy broke out in March.