Tax dispute, business interests raise red flags about Indonesian leader Prabowo’s brother
2024.10.17
Jakarta and Washington

As Prabowo Subianto officially becomes Indonesia’s president on Oct. 20, experts are questioning the close advisory role of his sibling, whose financial disputes abroad and business interests at home could strain the new administration’s credibility.
Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo’s younger brother, made headlines recently for allegedly dodging U.S. $154 million in Swiss taxes. His businesses are also related to the incoming government’s key priority areas.
Swiss court documents from January 2021 revealed that Hashim claimed to have gone bankrupt through funding Prabowo’s electoral campaigns and business ventures. But the court found that Hashim failed to prove that he had contributed $420 million to his brother.
Prabowo won the Feb. 14 presidential election having lost twice, in 2019 and 2014.
Now, the prospect of Hashim’s influence in the new administration has raised red flags among experts because of his entanglements, which have potential for conflicts of interest.
Hashim, his family and officials at Prabowo’s party did not respond to BenarNews’ requests for comment for this report.
Muhammad Andri Perdana, an economist from the Bright Institute, said Hashim’s tax case abroad was a rare one of its kind.
“In Indonesia, we haven’t seen many business figures face such serious investigations abroad,” Muhammad Andri told BenarNews.
“There’s concern that Hashim could leverage his position for personal gain, which could harm both the economy and Prabowo’s government.”

Prabowo is himself controversial. The former army general has faced allegations of human rights abuses during his time in the military, when he then served under authoritarian President Suharto.
Since Prabowo’s election victory, Hashim has played a visible advisory role, publicly discussing plans that could shape the incoming administration. These include plans to increase the country’s debt-GDP ratio, spend big on infrastructure and establish a revenue ministry to boost tax collection.
Officially, Prabowo has appointed Hashim head of a national housing task force, which aims to build 3 million low-income units annually.
‘Same old song’
Hashim, whose net worth was $685 million in 2020, according to Forbes, had moved to Geneva in 1999 and lived there for seven years.
Swiss tax authorities have been trying to recover the $154 million in unpaid taxes for nearly 20 years, the businessman told The Financial Times in July.
According to reports, Swiss authorities held an auction in April of two Geneva area villas linked to Hashim’s wife Anie. The auction raised $13.6 million to cover his tax debt.

When local reporters asked him about the case, Hashim said, “it’s the same old song,” the Indonesian news website Tempo.co reported in an Oct. 7 article. He declined to comment further.
However, Hashim spoke briefly about the Swiss tax case during the interview with The FT.
“I’m not [going to settle] . . . I’ve spent 20 years fighting the Swiss, who are being very, very unreasonable, very unreasonable,” he said.
Hashim did not elaborate on what he meant about the Swiss authorities being “unreasonable.”
When BenarNews asked him to comment on Hashim’s Swiss tax troubles, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Roy Soemirat said “this case is a civil matter.”
“It’s a private issue that the Indonesian government is not involved in,” Roy said.
On the face of it, there was nothing controversial about Hashim claiming bankruptcy, said Prianto Budi, executive director of the Pratama-Kreston Tax Research Institute.
“Tax law is open to interpretation, and each side can have different views, leading to appeals and extended litigation,” Prianto said.
“Hashim’s appeal was a normal part of the legal process, and ultimately, Swiss courts will have the final say, following procedures similar to those in Indonesia and other countries.”

Hashim and Prabowo come from a prominent family.
Their father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, served as a minister under the country’s first two presidents, Sukarno and Suharto, while their grandfather founded the state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia.
Hashim, 70, has played a pivotal role in supporting his brother’s political career.
Serving as deputy head of the advisory council of Prabowo’s party, Gerindra, Hashim has been instrumental in bolstering Prabowo’s bids for the presidency by being directly involved in campaigning.
Yoes Kenawas, a political scientist at Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta, said Hashim had bankrolled Prabowo’s various political campaigns since 2009.
“Hashim has taken on the role of banker and financial advisor for campaign funds, essentially acting as the family’s go-to financier. In their family, he’s the only major businessman,” Yoes told BenarNews.
“Naturally, there are concerns about potential business interests he may pursue after such long-standing support,” he said.
His tax issues in Switzerland notwithstanding, Hashim has been outspoken about tax evasion at home.
Recently, he highlighted a $19 billion shortfall in Indonesia’s state revenue and blamed 300 palm-oil operators for avoiding taxes.
“There are millions of hectares of forest areas illegally occupied by rogue palm-oil operators. Despite repeated warnings, they have yet to pay their taxes,” Hashim told the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.

Hashim’s own ventures have faced scrutiny.
Earlier this year, for instance, Hashim broke ground on a tin production facility in Riau Islands province that is expected to produce 200 tons of tin solder powder a year initially, according to the provincial government.
Hashim told reporters in May that the project aligned with Prabowo’s support for outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s downstream program, which aims to enhance the value of raw commodities by processing them before export.
Prabowo, who has portrayed himself as a resource nationalist, is a big proponent of downstreaming.
In August, Hashim said he had established projects near Nusantara, the name given to Jokowi’s legacy project to build a new national capital on Borneo island.
The projects include reforestation spanning 172,000 hectares (425,021 acres), a biofuel project, a 19,000-hectare (46,950 acres) wildlife conservation project, and the clean water project that had operated since 2016.
With the government planning to invest heavily in Nusantara, critics have questioned the extent to which Hashim might benefit disproportionately from the development.
RELATED STORIES
Indonesian parliament expands presidential powers as analysts express concern
Analysts: With Jokowi’s maneuvering, Indonesian democracy faces gravest threat since Suharto’s fall
Jokowi’s decade in power leaves Indonesia more developed, less democratic, analysts say
Accused of atrocities, fired from army, elected president: Prabowo’s unlikely rise
For his part, Hashim claims to have been involved in projects in the area long before Nusantara was seen as a potential new capital to replace Jakarta.
“I’ve been there since before Nusantara existed, for 15 years,” the news site Detikfinance quoted him as saying.
“I’m a resident of Nusantara, my land is inside Nusantara, part of my forest is in Nusantara.”
‘Risk of hidden agendas’
Dominique Nicky Fahrizal, a researcher on politics and social change, said the new administration should prioritize advisers with untarnished records and those who have no conflicts of interest.
“If someone with a legal record like this becomes a close policy advisor, there’s a real risk of hidden agendas in economic policies,” Nicky, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta, told BenarNews.
“These kinds of issues should be public knowledge, especially with Hashim poised to become an economic advisor.”

Hashim’s history includes a 2002 arrest during the presidency of Megawati Sukarnoputri, when he faced charges for banking violations. He was ultimately exonerated, according to reports.
Then there was his alleged involvement in the disappearance of five valuable statues from the Radya Pustaka Museum in Solo, Central Java, in 2006.
The statues were sold to Hashim through a Dutch art dealer, a police investigation revealed.
While Hashim claimed in court that he purchased the artifacts legally, the subsequent probe found that the documents validating the purchase were forged.
Hashim was acquitted of charges that he did not register the five statues with the relevant authorities, and the court was satisfied with his claim that he was unaware the statues were cultural heritage objects.
The case took a grim turn in 2008, when an archaeologist investigating the theft was found dead under suspicious circumstances.
Despite these controversies, Hashim remains unflappable, saying that he was not interested in being in the government and there was no conflict between Prabowo’s business-forward stance and commitment to public welfare.
“Prabowo is happy that I have no intention of taking a [cabinet] role,” he told the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 7.
“Prabowo is very pro-business but also very pro-people.”
Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta contributed to this report.