Credit: Jaco Klamer/ANP







Philip Morris pulls the strings in Indonesian production chain

By Manon Dillen, Jayesh Koshiya, Marc Bakker | 9 August, 2022

From tobacco paradise Indonesia to tax paradise Switzerland: tobacco company Philip Morris makes hundreds of millions euros in profit by advantages it created along the production chain. In cooperation with the Indonesian “Tempo Magazine”, we investigated how Philip Morris underpays Indonesian tobacco farmers through middlemen and made an investment deal with the Indonesian government in exchange for excise cuts and more flexible regulations. Indonesian tax authorities are now missing out about 100 million euros per year, as earnings find their way to Switzerland through Dutch offshore companies.

The whole article was published in Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland on August 9 2022 (in Dutch). 

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