MINISTER INSTALLS C'TTEE TO MONITOR TAX OFFICE'S PERFORMANCE

Jakarta, March 26 (ANTARA) - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has named former customs and excise director general Anwar Suprijadi the head of a committee to monitor the work of tax offices.

The minister at her office on Friday installed the committee consisting of Anwar Suprijadi as chairman and member, Abdul Anshari Ritonga as deputy chairman and member, Hekinus Makao who is the finance ministry's inspector general as member and academics Prof Shidarta Utama and Prof Hikmahanto Juwano as members.

"The establishment of the tax supervision committee (KPP) is a mandate and the government's resolve to continue its tax reform efforts," the minister said in her address on the occasion.

She said it was not easy to develop clean governance in the tax office as it had to do not merely with case handling but also integrity.

She said she hoped the committee could represent tax payers and accomplish its important task as expected. "We hope the function will work. This is our wish to create public confidence," she said.

Anwar on the occasion said the main task of the committee was supervising tax offices and collecting information from the public and offices concerned on tax problems.

"The results of the supervision and information from parties concerned will be studied and later reported to the finance minister as recommendations as we have no power to take actions such as conducting investigation," he said.

He said the committee was needed to develop credibility and public trust on tax offices.

The committee is a non-structural body tasked with helping the finance minister and is independent, he said.