Many Indonesian business owners have gone to extreme lengths to avoid paying taxes on their wealth, so much so that the government is preparing to offer an amnesty to those who have illegally hidden their fortunes overseas in an attempt to meet tax revenue shortfalls.
We don’t know yet know for sure whether businessman Agusman Lahagu was trying to avoid paying the billions of rupiah in taxes he owed the government. But what we do know is that he has been named a suspect in the stabbing deaths of two officers from the Tax Directorate on Nias Island in North Sumatra yesterday.
The news of their deaths was announced by Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro yesterday evening.
“Two North Sumatran tax officials from the Sibolga KPP (Tax Collection Office) died after being stabbed by a taxpayer,” Bambang said at the House of Representatives Building in Jakarta yesterday as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
The two officials were Pratama Sibolga Parado Toga Fransriano Siahaan from the KPP and Gunungsitoli Sozanolo Lase from the Office of Tax Counseling and Consultation Services (KP2KP).
The suspected assailant, 45-year-old Agusman, owns a rubber business and allegedly owes billions of rupiah in back taxes.
According to Bambang, Agusman killed the tax officials because he did not want to pay his taxes.
“The taxpayer did not comply with the requirement that he pay. Unfortunately, he stabbed [the officials] while they were performing their duties on behalf of the state,” he said.
The finance minister said Agusman turned himself in to the police and even brought the victims to the hospital, where they died.
Meanwhile, the head of public relations for the North Sumatra Police, Commissioner Helfi Assegaf, said they were still investigating the case and were questioning nine witnesses in connection with it. They also said that Agusman had already confessed to killing the tax officers, but officials added that the exact motive for the murder is still being ascertained.
