HCMC – Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (Thuduc House), in its latest announcement, has denied any collusion with 70 companies to commit tax fraud as mentioned in a report by the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
In response to the customs agency’s report on some southern firms’ appropriation of value added tax (VAT) refunds, smuggling and illegal cross-border cargo transport, Thuduc House said it had no connection with Saigon Southwest Trading JSC, a subsidiary of Saigon Trading Group, as well.
As for the trade of electronic accessories, from 2018 to 2019, Thuduc House purchased the products from a domestic partner, An Lanh Phat Co., Ltd, through its subsidiary–Thuduc House Wood Trading JSC–and exported them to other countries.
Thuduc House, Thuduc House Wood Trading and An Lanh Phat are operating legally, with seals, legal representatives and headquarters and have sufficiently paid VAT as well.
Regarding the news that one of the importers of the products of Thuduc House could not import the products to Hong Kong and two others in Cambodia had no import data in 2018 and 2019, Thuduc House explained that it did not know if its partners had complied with their countries’ regulations and had no jurisdiction to ask them to prove their compliance with the law.
According to Thuduc House, KGL Vietnam Company, which transports the products of Thuduc House, confirmed that it had transported the products to the Phnom-Penh International Airport in Cambodia and the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong and handed them over to the importers.
The conclusions of the inspectors of the HCMC Tax Department and the report of the General Department of Vietnam Customs are being verified. Courts and investigative agencies have yet to conclude that Thuduc House falsified documents to get VAT refunds.
Earlier, the HCMC Tax Department had ordered Thuduc House to pay more than VND451.3 billion in the tax refunds the firm is alleged to have illegally received from the tax authorities by asking banks to extract money from the company’s accounts and block all of its accounts.
The firm later opposed the HCMC Tax Department’s decision and filed a lawsuit against the taxman to the municipal People’s Court.
The court temporarily suspended the tax agency’s decision but withdrew its decision several days later.
According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Thuduc House exported nearly VND5.3 trillion worth of electronic accessories from February 17, 2017, to August 2, 2019. It later received VAT refunds valued at VND261 billion.
Enterprises selling the products to Thuduc House regularly changed their information about their headquarters, owners and legal representatives.
According to the customs agency, Thuduc House and its partners established subsidiaries to purchase local products at low prices, then exported them at much higher prices and appropriated tax refunds of hundreds of Vietnamese dong, causing huge losses for the State budget.
The Investigative Police Department for Corruption, Smuggling and Economic Crimes under the Ministry of Public Security has detained 20 people and seized 200 seals of local and foreign units involved in the case.
By Van Phong & Dung Nguyen
