snoop1130 Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 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 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yadon Toploy Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TallGuyJohninBKK Posted March 20, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 20, 2020 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!!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNXexpat Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SABloke Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TallGuyJohninBKK Posted March 20, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 20, 2020 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. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogmatix Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubbaJohnny Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 What a drag 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin case Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 PM2.5 so high and dumb people still need to smoke on top of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOAX Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 2002 2017 2020 Then comes the appeals... (and a bunch of nonsense in between). 2032? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Srikcir Posted March 21, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 21, 2020 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. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelaoffy Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Philip Morris can say "go to hell" not paying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishoak Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 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..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yom Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now