Finance Minister:Panama Papers to be used for Tax Amnesty Program

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said he will use the data provided by the Panama Papers documents, which leaks the information held by Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca's files, that are available for the public to see since today.

Bambang said he has not seen the complete information listed in the Panama Papers documents, but he said his ministry will "use it to be used by the tax amnesty program."

Met at his office in Jakarta, Tuesday, May 10, Bambang added that he and his team will look at the documents. Right now, he said, the list only contains names, "there is no other information."

When asked whether the government will set up a special team to track the whereabouts of businessmen and offshore companies in tax havens, Bambang said he will not. "There is no need for that, that's part of a routine activity."

Since early this morning, the public can access the Panama Papers listing the names of individuals and enterprises with assets located overseas through https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/. The publication has approximately 200,000 names of shell companies. Not everything is shared to the public, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) only showed the most basic information of a company, such as the name, location, and shareholders.

Other records such as bank accounts, financial transactions, electronic mails, passport, phone numbers, and other correspondence related to the individuals and corporations are not published.

More than 100 journalists from 76 countries, including Tempo, that have been involved in the Panama Papers investigation will continue to probe the leaked documents.

DIKO OKTARA