More luxury cars snared in tax scam raids in and near Bangkok

The Department of Special Investigation yesterday impounded 20 luxury cars on suspicion their owners had not paid proper import taxes.
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 Fibreglass 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.
Kornwat said DSI officials had been ordered to impound all suspicious luxury cars for investigation. He said the DSI has learned that 15 firms had been allegedly importing luxury cars for sale.
As part of the inspection yesterday, Pol Lt Col Wichit Chartkitcharoen led a team of DSI officers to check Auto Art Services on Soi Lat Phrao-Wanghin 85. The check was carried out after the DSI allegedly learned from the Land Transport Department that the place claimed to be an assembly plant for luxury cars.
The DSI investigators allegedly found that Auto Art Services was registered as being owned by Pornthep Sukhahut and Pornthep lent the garage to Phanwasin Wilaikaew since August 2011.
The Land Transport Department informed the DSI that Phanwasin had registered 76 luxury cars from 2011 to 2012, claiming they were assembled at the Auto Art Services garage.
The DSI official found that the garage was being used now as a garage to fix car trunks and engines damaged in accidents.
Wichit alleged the checking found the garage did not have any equipment for assembling luxury cars at all.
In another inspection, Pol Lt Col Seksathit Suwankood led a team of DSI officers to check Ekkachai 902 used vehicles tent in Bang Bon. The team found 35 luxury cars.
The tent is owned by Naron Lekmee, 51, who fully cooperated with the officers. He provided documents to show the vehicles had been legally imported and import taxes had been paid.