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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Crime & Justice

New Chapter in Transfer-Pricing Corruption Case as TPL Named Corporate Suspect

From CNN Indonesia · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Under investigation
  • Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office named PT Toba Pulp Lestari a corporate suspect in an alleged transfer-pricing corruption case covering 2008 to 2025.
  • Investigators said the company allegedly manipulated pulp product classifications, failed to submit required transfer-pricing and tax documents, and worked with tax officials to avoid oversight.
  • Authorities estimated the alleged scheme caused state losses of up to 2 trillion rupiah; two tax employees had already been named suspects.

The transfer-pricing corruption case involving PT Toba Pulp Lestari has entered a new phase: Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office has named the company itself a corporate suspect.

Investigators allege that TPL used under-invoicing by changing and manipulating the HS Code classifications of its pulp products. Products that should have been classified as dissolving pulp were instead reported as paper-grade pulp, bleached hardwood kraft pulp, or BHKP, said Saiful Bahri Siregar, director of investigations at the deputy attorney general’s office for special crimes.

It should have been dissolving pulp, but it was changed into paper-grade pulp or bleached hardwood kraft pulp, or BHKP.

· Saiful Bahri SiregarThe investigating official described the alleged manipulation of TPL’s pulp product classifications.

The administratively altered pulp was then sold abroad to Macau Marketing International Ltd and domestically to Asia Pacific Rayon, investigators said. They also accused TPL of failing to provide transfer-pricing documentation and corporate tax returns to the tax office during an assessment of whether its transaction prices were reasonable.

PT TPL Tbk unlawfully worked with authorized officials so that oversight would not be carried out.

· Saiful Bahri SiregarHe alleged that the company worked with officials to avoid scrutiny.

Saiful said TPL had unlawfully worked with officials so that the transactions would not receive proper scrutiny. Reviews of working papers and audit reports, he added, did not follow the audit program prepared by state officials. As a result, officials allegedly failed to compare the prices in TPL’s transfer-pricing documents and corporate tax filings.

Investigators estimate that the alleged transfer-pricing activity caused up to 2 trillion rupiah in losses to the state. The Attorney General’s Office had previously named two employees of the Finance Ministry’s Directorate General of Taxes, identified as BP and SR, as suspects. They allegedly helped TPL facilitate the scheme while serving as supervisors in a tax audit. CNN Indonesia said it was seeking a response from TPL and an update on the case.

Based on the results of the investigation, the investigative team today has named the corporation PT TPL Tbk a suspect.

· Saiful Bahri SiregarHe announced the corporate suspect designation at a news conference.
About this summary

Originally published by CNN Indonesia in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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