"I already know who they are. Soon I would invite them to meet me at a small forum for discussion and I would ask them to meet their obligations," the president said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo said he has the list of names of all Indonesians parking money abroad evading tax.

"I already know who they are. Soon I would invite them to meet me at a small forum for discussion and I would ask them to meet their obligations," the president told a number of mass media leaders at a meeting also attended by Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, Chief of Presidential Staff Teten Masduki, and Presidential spokesman Johan Budi.

He said he and the finance minister already know the persons and the amount of their money parked abroad.

The government, therefore, could send the bill to the right addresses and ask them to invest their money in the country, he added.

The House of Representative has approved and passed a tax amnesty bill into law, which is expected to result in repatriation of the funds parked abroad by many rich Indonesians.

There are thousands of Indonesians parking money abroad, the president said giving no names, adding he could not give the names as it would be against the law.

"What is certain is that shortly I would call for them and ask them to bring their money home to be invested in the country," he said.

He said the data held by the government is strictly confidential and could not be used for investigation and legal prosecution against the tax payers.

In addition, the data could not be given to anyone for any purpose, he said.

"Even those found leaking the secret information could be punished with a jail term of up to 5 years," he said.

The president acknowledged that the tax payers could not easily understand the legal protection offered by the government because of the psychological factor.

The government, therefore would continue to launch socialization in the regions that big or small companies could fully understand tax amnesty .

"Tomorrow the finance minister and me would go to Surabaya for a meeting with big and small business leaders for that purposes," he said.

The government has also set up a task force involving the finance ministry and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPKP) to guarantee implementation of the tax amnesty law and protection for the tax payers.

The president said he was optimistic the tax amnesty law would be a success and the target would be reached as a number of business leaders already gave positive signals to bring their funds home to Indonesia.

"We dont expect all of those funds repatriated . Even half of them is good enough," he said.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said it is a good opportunity for tax amnesty , adding in August and September many business leaders are expected to make use of the tax amnesty .

Bambang said if the tax amnesty could run well as expected the government would have additional source of fund to finance economic development.

"Currently, amid the global slump, nations are racing to get capital for development," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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