THE office of the Directorate General of Tax on Jalan Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, was deserted on Thursday evening two weeks ago. Nearly all its employees had gone home as it was nearing 8:30pm, much later than the normal end of work at 5pm. But Mochamad Tjiptardjo, Director of Intelligence and Investigation, was in his room, finishing his work.

Unexpectedly, Darmin Nasution, Director-General of Tax, who was also in the office, asked him to p