17 officers of Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department proposed for prosecution

The Deputy Director and many officials of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department were proposed for prosecution due to violations related to the Thuduc House case, causing a loss of more than 365 billion VND in tax refunds.

On November 19, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency (C03) issued a supplementary investigation conclusion on the case that occurred at Thuduc House, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department and related units.

60 defendants were proposed to be prosecuted on 9 charges:Smuggle;Illegal transportation of goods and currency across the border; Fraudulent appropriation of property; Receiving bribes; Manufacturing and trading in counterfeit goods; Violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences; Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences...

Among the 60 defendants, 17 are leaders and officials of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department such as: Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh - Deputy Director; Pham Minh Tuan - former Head of Tax Accounting Declaration Department; Cao Van Ty - Head of Tax Inspection Department No. 5; Nguyen Xuan Thang - Head of Internal Inspection Department; Dao Thi Nga - officer of District 1 Tax Department; Nguyen Phuong Nam - officer of District 3 Tax Department; Ngo Huynh Luy - officer of District 5 Tax Department...

Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department. Photo:Thanh Nhan

According to the investigation, from 2017 to 2019, Trinh Tien Dung (who has absconded) ran many domestic and foreign businesses to create documents for the roundabout purchase, export, and import of electronic components. After completing procedures for exporting electronic components to the US, Cambodia, UAE, and Singapore, through intermediaries, Dung organized the creation of value-added tax (VAT) refund documents to appropriate state money.

According to the plan, from February 2018 to June 2019, Dung directed his subordinates to connect with officials and leaders of Thu Duc House Company to establish and sign 334 economic contracts with 8 foreign companies. The total value of the export shipments was more than 158 million USD (more than 3,600 billion VND), with a VAT rate of 0%.

To legalize the input, Thuduc House established and signed 334 contracts to buy and sell domestic electronic components with many companies with a value of more than 4,000 billion VND, including 10% VAT. Thuduc House then established 17 sets of documents to send to the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department requesting a VAT refund of more than 365 billion VND.

Upon receiving the dossier, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department issued 17 decisions to refund VAT to Thuduc House with a total amount of more than 365 billion VND.

C03 also determined that the fraudulent acts and fake records for VAT refunds were also illegal acts in tax management by officials of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department in inspecting, examining, reviewing, and deciding on tax refunds.

The defendants at the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department did not comply with the law on tax management and procedures in reviewing and assessing VAT refunds. This group of officials also did not compare data, did not report unusual signs in the dossiers, and did not organize inspections to detect violations. These actions led to incorrect tax refunds, causing a loss to the State of more than VND365 billion, according to C03.