More luxury cars snared in DSI tax scam raids

The high-end cars were seized pending tax clarification by the owners after DSI officials inspected seven premises suspected of being involved in the allegedly massive tax evasion scam.

The DSI has stepped up checking alleged tax evasion by luxury car owners after four high-end cars were damaged in a fire on May 29 and two other cars on the same trailer were left unclaimed.

 Following the inspections yesterday, 12 luxury cars were impounded in Nakhon Pathom, four in Pathum Thani and four others in Prachin Buri.

Seven inspection teams were dispatched by Pol Lt General Kornwat Parnprapakorn, commander of the 

 special operation division of the DSI.

The seven premises were a vehicle assembly plant in Bangkok’s Wang Hin area, a used-vehicle retailer showroom tent in Bangkok’s Bang Bon area, GDO Fiberglass Products in Nakhon Pathom, a house in Pathum Thani’s Lamlukka district, a house in Nonthaburi, a vehicle assembling plant in Prachin Buri’s Ban Srang district, and a house in the jurisdiction area of Chakkrawad police station in Bangkok.

The DSI has said it will target vehicles that have been declared as locally reassembled and are worth more than Bt4 million in the market. The DSI chief said 145 such vehicles would be checked. Suspicion has risen that some of these vehicles have been wrongly declared as locally reassembled in a move to avoid full taxation.

Kornwat said the DSI would investigate some 5,000 luxury cars that had been registered as locally assembled and the probe could take over a year. Kornwat said the Land Transport Department had registered about 10,000 luxury cars whose owners claimed they were locally assembled.