JAKARTA - PT Saka Energi Indonesia (SAKA), a subsidiary of PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) Tbk (PGAS), will submit a request for reconsideration to the Supreme Court regarding Saka Indonesia Pangkah Ltd tax dispute amounting to US$ 127.7 million. This was conveyed by Rahmat Utama, PGAS Corporate Secretary, related to efforts by the company to mitigate further downgrades in the future.
In the information disclosure quoted on Tuesday (12/1), Utama said that if the Supreme Court granted the reconsideration request, SAKA would not pay a potential tax penalty of US$ 127.7 million. "We will even get a refund for the principal amount of the dispute, that has been paid for US$ 127.7 million," he added.
For information, Moody's lowered Saka Energi's rating to B2 on January 7, 2021. The rating downgrade, according to Utama, was because Moody's assesses that SAKA's liquidity profile has significantly decreased due to the potential tax exposure of Saka Indonesia Pangkah Ltd's additional income tax penalty of US$ 127.7 million. "In addition, the degrade of SAKA's liquidity profile was due to the payment of principal shareholder loan (SHL) to PGAS of US$ 77.6 million on January 6, 2020," said Utama.
He also mentioned that the payment of SHL to PGAS had considered SAKA's better cash flow after the Supreme Court's decision on the two tax disputes. Moreover, Utama said that the company would monitor SAKA in order to complete projects on time, to improve future business performance. (LK/VA)