Jakarta. The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, mulls mandating state officials of lower echelons to report their personal assets following the suspiciously rich taxman scandal.

According to Pahala Nainggolan, the deputy for prevention and monitoring at KPK, such measures are necessary as lower-ranking officials may get away with shady deals. He pointed to the case of embattled taxman Rafael Alun Trisambodo, who only became subject to the mandatory state wealth reporting in 2011. He, however, purchased most of his assets before that year.

"That is why we are thinking of revising [the regulation on] wealth reporting this year. Usually, the state officials who are mandated to submit their wealth reports are those of echelons 1 and 2. We want to bring the threshold down to the lower-ranking officials,” Pahala told reporters shortly after an anti-corruption pledge signing event in Jakarta on Thursday.

"So we can order even the ordinary officials to disclose their wealth if there is a potential [for graft]," Pahala said.

Pahala also revealed to the press that the lack of such a mandate for low-ranking officials caused their wrongdoings to remain undetected.

“if only we had already mandated RAT [Rafael Alun Trisambodo] to file the report way back before 2011. So I would say the ones that are enjoying the most are those who do not have to file their wealth report,” Pahala said.

In a public service setting, a briber would unlikely go for those in the top brass, according to Pahala.

“I doubt that anyone would try to bribe the office head. I’m sure they will try to buy off the section head at echelon IV or even those in the functional posts,” Pahala said.

The anti-graft commission is also urging ministries and government bodies to expand the scope of those obliged to report their wealth.

“The drivers at KPK even have to submit a wealth report, this is what we mean by expansion. But other [government bodies] are not doing anything and do not wish to expand the scope,” Pahala said.

Rafael, the former section head at the South Jakarta II Tax Directorate General, came to the spotlight after his lavish lifestyle got exposed. 

Rafael reported to the KPK that he was worth Rp 56.1 billion ($3.6 million), only a Rp 1.9 billion difference from Finance Minister Sri Mulyani’s total personal assets. The taxman omitted many details from his report, including the infamous Rubicon Jeep which son-and-assault-suspect Mario Dandy Satriyo flexed on social media.

More recently, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) froze dozens of bank accounts belonging to Rafael and his family members. The accounts totaled at least Rp 500 billion in transactions. The Finance Ministry on Wednesday announced that they would fire Rafael.

Read More:

• Mahfud Alleges Suspicious Transactions Worth Rp 300t at Finance Ministry
• KPK Reveals 134 Tax Officials Have Shares in Public Companies
• Troubled Taxman Rafael to Lose Job over Suspicious Wealth

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