TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-The government is ready to verify and investigate the names of Indonesians with shell companies in tax havens once the Panama Papers' documents are revealed on May 9.
Muhammad Yusuf, head of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (INTRAC), told Tempo yesterday that the agency will validate the documents first before using them to help with the investigation process. After that, Yusuf said the documents will be used as reference materials.
The Panama Papers are a set of leaked documents detailing the client information of international companies associated with Panamananian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Since 1971, Mossack Fonseca has been helping individuals and organization in creating shell companies tax havens like the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles and Cayman Island.
The leaked documents mention several names of important figures in Indonesia, among them BPK Chairman Harry Azhar Azis and the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said he will examine the Panama Papers before determining what steps the AG will take. He said that not all shell companies are set up to facilitate crime. "We will select files that indicate criminal activities," he said.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) plans to publish the documents on May 9, 2016 via www.offshoreleaks.icij.org.
The ICIJ will not release all personal data that the documents have such as bank accounts, financial transactions, e-mail address, passport numbers, and telephone numbers. Once the data is published, the public can search for the files and visual networks of those shell companies, including Mossack Fonseca's internal records about true owners of the shell companies.
ANGELINA ANJAR