Thuduc House case: Did Tay Ninh Tax Department receive money for tax refund?

SGGPO 06/08/2023 18:39

Some defendants, former leaders of Saigon Tay Nam Company (headquartered in Tay Ninh province), confessed to paying money to tax authorities to "receive value added tax refunds at all costs."

On June 8, the trial of 67 defendants in the case related to Thu Duc House Joint Stock Company (Thuduc House) continued for the third day, with the questioning session. In which, the trial panel asked questions to clarify the defendants' actions and roles in assisting Trinh Tien Dung (an internationally wanted person) to appropriate more than 538 billion VND in value-added tax refunds.

The interrogation session on the afternoon of June 8 lasted until more than 5:30 p.m., the defendants were escorted back to detention. Photo: M.HOA

The amount of money refunded by the tax authorities of the provinces and cities to 3 companies is: Thu Duc House Joint Stock Company (Thuduc House, more than 365 billion VND), Saigon Tay Nam Company (in Tay Ninh, more than 153 billion VND), Hoang Nam Anh Company (in Dong Nai , more than 19.3 billion VND).

It is worth mentioning that these companies were connected by Dung's group and agreed to import and export goods without knowing the actual price or condition of the goods, they only needed to do import and export procedures and tax refund procedures. The rest of the work from output to input of import and export was "taken care of" by Dung's group.

While 15 individuals at the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department were prosecuted and tried for violations in tax refunds for Thuduc House, tax refunds for Saigon Tay Nam Company and Hoang Nam Anh Company have not been considered.

According to the indictment, for individuals belonging to the Tax Departments of Tay Ninh and Dong Nai provinces, due to lack of time to investigate, the case files related to these violations were separated and transferred to the Investigation Police Agency of Tay Ninh and Dong Nai Province Police for investigation.

At the investigation agency and at the trial, the former leader of Saigon Tay Nam Company confessed that he paid money to tax officials in Tay Ninh for " diplomacy " and "must get a tax refund at all costs" because he had previously paid 10% to Trinh Tien Dung's group.

The presiding judge said that the testimonies and evidence related to this matter, if necessary, will be sent to the Tay Ninh Provincial Police Investigation Agency for investigation and clarification.

15 former officials of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department were brought to trial in this case for the crimes of Violating regulations on state asset management causing loss and waste and the crime of Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.

The indictment determined that Thuduc House is a commercial business with export activities via the mainland and has unusual changes in taxable revenue, with a sudden increase in refunded tax (over 20% compared to the same period last year); the enterprise has the same input and output VAT rates for which a refund is requested; the buyer and seller enterprises have the same owners and related relationships. These are high-risk signs that must be 100% inspected before refunding tax according to regulations. However, the procedures were not properly implemented, resulting in a loss of more than VND 331 billion in VAT to the state.

It is expected that this group of defendants will be questioned in court tomorrow, June 9.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/vu-thuduc-house-cuc-thue-tay-ninh-co-nhan-tien-de-hoan-thue-post692956.html