Philip Morris charged in court
The Attorney-General’s Office said Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the American tobacco and cigarette giant Philip Morris International Inc’s Thai unit, accusing eight of the company’s foreign and local executives of false declarations of its
The alleged tax evasion dates back to 2003.
Spokesman Somnuek Siengkong said at a press conference that the case was brought before the Criminal Court against the Thai subsidiary, Philip Morris (Thailand), for a total of 272 offences that the eight defendants committed from July 2003-June 2006.
The lawsuit named eight defendants including a foreign and Thai executives. They included Modlin.
The offences they committed related to false declaration of the true value of cigarette imports with intent to evade taxes. The evaded taxes and duties amounted to Bt20.21 billion.
Besides, the Customs Law also states clearly that intentional tax evasion is subject to a fourfold fine of the evaded tax plus the value of the imports or 10-year imprisonment, or both.
The court accepted the lawsuit for trial and set the first hearing for April, he said.
Chartpong Chiraphand, deputy attorney-general, said the Criminal Court had earlier issued warrants for the arrest of four foreign executives of the cigarette company who are still at large.
The case against the foreign executives has a statute of limitations of 15 years and there are five years remaining.
If these foreign fugitives could be apprehended within the remaining period, they would be brought for trial before the court, he said.
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