"Since the mall was developed until now, they have not fulfilled their obligation to pay their tax arrears of more than Rp250 billion," Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution stated after sealing the shopping mall's entry here on Wednesday (May 15).
Nasution personally placed the warning sticker that sealed the mall's entry as well as a banner declaring the mall is closed and sealed under sanction by the local government due to non-payment of tax.
The mayor said he had earlier met representatives of the mall operator, PT Agra Citra Kharisma (ACK), and set the deadline to pay their taxes on May 15, 2024. However, the company failed to pay their arrears on time.
"Hence, we seal the shopping mall today," Nasution stated.
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Apart from failing to pay their taxes, he pointed out that the shopping mall did not have a building permit and never paid levies to the municipal authority.
"The shopping mall does not hold any building permit and never paid their retributions. Moreover, the mall has an apartment, which makes (the mall's tax arrears) surpass Rp250 billion," the mayor stated.
After sealing the shopping mall, Nasution gave his second deadline for the mall operator to pay their tax arrears before May 30, 2024.
He remarked that the deadline was requested by the mall operators themselves since they needed to reach a deal with state-owned railway company PT KAI, which owned the land where the mall stands.
It was not the first time that the Medan authority was compelled to seal the mall, as Nasution had sealed it in 2021 for failure to pay Rp56 billion (US$3.5 million) land tax, which it accumulated due to non-payment for 10 years.
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Translator: Muhammad Said, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
