Prosecution of tax officials colluding with relatives to sell fake invoices

On September 9, information from the People's Procuracy of Dak R'lap district, Dak Nong province said that it had approved the decision to prosecute the accused and the order to temporarily detain Nguyen Thi Le (officer of the Dak R'lap - Tuy Duc Tax Department) and Nguyen Thi Thuy Lan (residing in Dak R'lap district, Le's younger sister) to investigate the act of "Illegal trading of invoices".

According to the investigation, in 2011, Ms. Lan was granted a certificate of registration for a clothing business in residential group 9, Kien Duc town by the Dak R'lap District Finance Department. After that, Ms. Lan requested the Dak R'lap District Finance Department to adjust her business line from clothing to construction materials and some other fields. In early 2013, Ms. Lan stopped doing business but did not return the business license to the competent authority.

Dak R'lap - Tuy Duc Regional Tax Department, where Ms. Le works.

In early 2018, because many people asked to buy fake invoices, Ms. Lan used the issued business license to buy sales invoices at the Dak R'lap District Tax Department (now the Dak R'lap - Tuy Duc Regional Tax Department). Ms. Lan brought the business license to the Dak R'lap - Tuy Duc Regional Tax Department to pay the business license tax and buy a number of sales invoice books. At this time, Ms. Lan asked her sister, Nguyen Thi Le, to write many invoices to sell to others.

For each invoice sold, Lan collected 8% of the value of the goods listed on the invoice. Ms. Lan declared and paid 1.5% tax, the remaining profit was 6.5%. According to the initial investigation results, from 2019-2020, Ms. Lan and Ms. Le had falsified invoices and illegally sold 84 sales invoices to many individuals and organizations inside and outside the district, illegally profiting over 100 million VND.