Thai court fines Philip Morris $4 million for customs violations

 

FILE PHOTO: A Philip Morris logo is pictured on a factory in Serrieres near Neuchatel, Switzerland December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai court on Friday fined the local unit of tobacco company Philip Morris <PM.N> 130 million baht for dodging tax on cigarette imports from Indonesia.

 

The Thai public prosecutor filed charges in 2017 against Philip Morris Thailand and seven of its Thai employees for inaccurate price declarations of cigarettes imported from Indonesia between 2002 to 2003.

 

The court on Friday dismissed all charges against the seven former employees.

 

Philip Morris Thailand said it viewed the charge as a government move to protect state-controlled Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, and is planning to appeal the court's decision.

 

"We strongly disagree with today's decision as the decision is contrary to domestic and international customs law," said Gerald Margolis, a branch manager of Philip Morris Thailand.

 

"We believe this case underscores the country's disregard for the rules in international trade and is the latest in a line of cases against foreign companies that will have an impact on continued and new foreign investment," he said.

 

The ruling follows a court decision to fine the tobacco giant 1.2 billion baht ($40 million) last November for similar customs violations regarding cigarette imports from the Philippines.

 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that Thailand had not met obligations under the Customs Valuation Agreement, regarding the valuation of cigarettes imported by Philip Morris Thailand from Philip Morris subsidiaries in the Philippines and Indonesia.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-20

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5 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

"We strongly disagree with today's decision as the decision is contrary to domestic and international customs law,"

 

6 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

We believe this case underscores the country's disregard for the rules in international trade and is the latest in a line of cases against foreign companies that will have an impact on continued and new foreign investment," he said.

Basically saying they are not to be trusted. 

10 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

"We believe this case underscores the country's disregard for the rules in international trade and is the latest in a line of cases against foreign companies that will have an impact on continued and new foreign investment," he said.

 

Interesting to hear them come out and flatly say that in public!!!

 

Well, foreigners are always guilty in Thailand. I hope if they decide to build something in Thailand, they remember this: https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/thailand-blames-its-covid-19-crisis-on-caucasians/?fbclid=IwAR1qIMOcD29pLClB4vIoeoazAcsuns3rVX1yAOAxepfl7YbsLohtOaJ8z_M
 

28 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Interesting to hear them come out and flatly say that in public!!!

 

Did you not follow the Future Foward case? Many law experts came out deriding the court's decision. It happens more than you know - people calling out the courts for BS.

5 minutes ago, SABloke said:

Did you not follow the Future Foward case? Many law experts came out deriding the court's decision. It happens more than you know - people calling out the courts for BS.

 

ya, but those aren't large multinational corporations with significant ongoing business interests and investment in Thailand....

 

That makes their standing here just a bit different, and subject to the whims of the current government.

 

This is the second case on this issue.  Philip Morris was fined B1.22 billion for the same thing last November. 

 

It seems that PM managed to get these deals past the WTO and I am not in favour of Thailand ignoring international conventions it has ratified. However, from a moral standpoint I will not shed any tears for Philip Morris over this. They declared cost insurance and freight at B7 a pack and sold the fags in Thailand at B145 a pack. I am sure they paid a fortune to lawyers to make the under invoicing legal under WTO rules.

What  a drag

PM2.5 so high and dumb people still need to smoke on top of that

2002

2017

2020

 

Then comes the appeals... (and a bunch of nonsense in between). 

 

2032?

13 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

This is the second case on this issue.  Philip Morris was fined B1.22 billion for the same thing last November. 

 

It seems that PM managed to get these deals past the WTO and I am not in favour of Thailand ignoring international conventions it has ratified. However, from a moral standpoint I will not shed any tears for Philip Morris over this. They declared cost insurance and freight at B7 a pack and sold the fags in Thailand at B145 a pack. I am sure they paid a fortune to lawyers to make the under invoicing legal under WTO rules.

From a moral standpoint the government of Thailand needs to stop protecting its tobacco monopoly before criticizing foreign companies of immorality.

Philip Morris can say "go to hell" not paying 

22 hours ago, SABloke said:

Did you not follow the Future Foward case? Many law experts came out deriding the court's decision. It happens more than you know - people calling out the courts for BS.

 

Im in total shock.... Thailands law courts corrupt ? say it aint so..... 

8 hours ago, justin case said:

PM2.5 so high and dumb people still need to smoke on top of that

Well said.

For me PM seems to be at the same level as former Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta.

I love them both.