Companies Belong to Prabowo, Sandiaga Named in Paradise Papers
7 November 2017 14:46 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A number of Indonesian businessmen and politicians, including Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno, are listed as the clients of Appleby and Asiaciti Trust, a law firm operating in Bermuda and other tax havens. Appleby’s Paradise Papers also named former heads of state, ministers, international businessmen and world leaders as clients who hired the law firm to set up offshore companies.
The Paradise Papers are issued by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), that also issued the Panama Papers that revealed the name of shell companies owned by prominent figures, including 1000 Indonesians. Meanwhile, the Paradise Papers mentioned 215 Indonesians, 40 of whom are politicians and businessmen.
Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto is listed in the documents as a director of Nusantara Energy Resources founded in 2001 in Bermuda—a tax haven under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom. Appleby documents say that the company was shut down in 2004 and listed as a ‘bad debtor’.
Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno is also named in the documents. Sandiaga has an offshore company named N.T.I Resources. He was also named in the Panama Papers for owning shell companies in the British Virgin Islands.
Appleby and Asiaciti documents were obtained by a German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that distributed the data to hundreds of journalists working at 95 media companies in 67 countries under ICIJ collaboration. Tempo is the only Indonesian media that also examine 13.4 million documents of the Paradise Papers.
Sandiaga Uno said that his company N.T.I Resources, as reported in the Panama Papers, is not a shell company. “It has gone public at Canada stock exchange,” he said. He claimed that he is no longer linked to the oil and gas company.
Gerindra Party deputy chairman Fadli Zon said that Prabowo is not linked to Nusantara Resources Energy.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said she will examine individuals named in the Paradise Papers. She will join hands with the international community to crack down on illegal investments. “Always, to enhance Indonesia’s tax base, particularly those from ‘high-wealth individuals’; it’s always a concern and we will make improvements,” she said yesterday.
HUSSEIN ABRI YUSUF MUDA | RIANI SANUSI PUTRI | TIM TEMPO & ICIJ | INDRI MAULIDAR
