Special Committee of Deli Serdang Regional House of Representatives Finds Alleged Billions in Revenue Leakage at 4 CitraLand Housing Complexes

Deli Serdang. The Special Committee for Local Revenue of the Deli Serdang Regional House of Representatives has uncovered suspected revenue leaks amounting to billions of rupiah from four CitraLand residential areas in the region.

This finding was presented during a plenary session led by the House Speaker and Deputy Speaker, attended by the Vice Regent.

The report from the Special Committee also included members such as the Committee Vice Chair, Secretary, and other committee members.

It was stated that the development of CitraLand housing in four locations — in Telagasari Village, Helvetia CitraLand, Medan Estate Village, and Sampali Village — is suspected to have caused revenue leaks.

The alleged revenue leak includes the discovery that the building area on issued building permits does not match the actual built area, such as fences and gates.

Furthermore, the built area does not match the area recorded on the Land and Building Tax notification letter. The tax object sales value rate for land and building tax is not the same as the surrounding rates.

For instance, in CitraLand Tanjungmorawa, the land tax was issued at under one million, while in that area the rate has reached 3 million per square meter.

It was also found that not all certificates for the tax on acquisition of land and building rights have been transferred from CitraLand to individual owners. After a credit agreement or ownership transfer, CitraLand should split or transfer the name to the home buyer.

According to the committee, the transfer fee for one house can reach 70 million rupiah.

Further tax leaks were found in the extraction of groundwater. At CitraLand, not all groundwater extraction activities have permits.

It was found that CitraLand drills its own groundwater to supply clean water to each house. Payments are collected from each house, and CitraLand pays a retribution fee to the local government, but the payment amount was found to be inconsistent.

Water usage payments per house can reach 200,000 to 300,000 rupiah.

The committee chair explained that the amount of the suspected leak is based on calculations by the committee, according to received documents and field reviews at four CitraLand housing locations.

“A discrepancy was found between the documents and the field review results,” he explained.

He also emphasized that the suspected leak may be due to errors by the Regional Revenue Agency staff or intentional acts by certain individuals.

This was raised with the Revenue Agency, which admitted that the suspected error was due to staff not having validated all CitraLand assets.

It was added that after the findings document is prepared in detail, the House will submit it to the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for follow-up, requesting serious attention to the suspected revenue leak.

Meanwhile, the Vice Regent appreciated the work of the Special Committee and stated they would work together with the local government to eradicate tax evaders.

“We will eradicate all tax evaders, because taxes are for the people’s benefit. The executive and legislative branches are united for the prosperity and welfare of the community,” he affirmed.

The Vice Regent also assured that if any Revenue Agency staff are involved in wrongdoing under the current leadership, they will be eradicated to the roots.

“(Tax evaders), we will eradicate them in the era of the House Speaker and Deputy Speaker,” he said.

Meanwhile, a CitraLand spokesperson denied the allegations when contacted, stating that the issue had been discussed with the House previously and was proven with CitraLand documents.

“Good evening, thank you for the confirmation. Regarding this matter, we can convey that this issue was previously discussed in a meeting with the House last year and has been fully clarified and supplemented with supporting documents. We ensure that all obligations, including land and building tax, have been fulfilled in accordance with applicable regulations from the local government,” he wrote.