Thailand's D S I Probes Luxury Car Scam

[webfact]

DSI probes luxury car scam
Piyanut Tumnukasetchai
The Nation



Takes over inquiry into burnt-out cars; thousands may be linked to scheme.

BANGKOK: -- The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will look into cases of tax evasion involving nearly 7,000 luxury vehicles, with customs, excise, revenue, land-transport officials and politicians possibly linked to the illegal import and false registration of the cars.

"We suspect that 5,832 luxury cars have been registered illegitimately in a way that allows buyers to avoid paying taxes," DSI chief Tarit Pengdith said yesterday.

The probe was sparked by last week's mysterious fire that damaged four sportscars on a car transport trailer in Nakhon Ratchisima. No owners have stepped forward to claim ownership of the vehicles, which were on their way to Si Sa Ket province.

Even the owner of the trailer truck's company told police she did not know who owned the cars or who paid for their transport.

The DSI has now taken over the case.

Tarit said the case implicates at least 18 suspects, including customs, revenue, excise and land-transport officials. The DSI had been monitoring cases of "suspicious" luxury cars for a few years already, he revealed.

Veteran politician Chaiya Sasomsap said yesterday a white Lamborghini gutted in last week's fire had the same licence-plate number registered to a white Lamborghini owned by a nephew, who is a son of Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap, an senior Pheu Thai MP.

Speaking in an interview with a cable news channel, the former public health minister said his unnamed nephew returned the plate to the Land Transport Department in 2006 after he got another plate number. "The change was registered and documented in the department's documents, signed by the officials. I don't know why this licence plate was found at the scene of the fire," said Chaiya said.

His nephew was still driving his white Lamborghini. He invitede police to verify his statement, the registration details and the existence of the vehicle.

Phadermchai said the Lamborghini gutted in the fire was not his son's, although it carried his son's old licence plate number 2617. "Maybe the auto trade company that sold a white Lamborghini to my son has not changed registration details of him still owning it. It does not carry licence-plate number 2617 anymore," he said.

Tarit said the white Lamborghini damaged in the fire had been on a DSI watchlist. It was among the more than

1,000 vehicles awaiting registration or registered after being imported as auto parts and re-assembled for the purpose of tax evasion.

Tarit identified Dhamma Motor Rich Co Ltd, operated by Pornpimon Kehathan, as the firm that registered the white Lamborghini. Its engine buyer was Sukanya Sombatdee, he said, while the importing firm was TAN Express.

Tarit said evidence did not yet lead to any specific politician.

However, a politician might be implicated given that luxury-car buyers in Thailand are usually politicians or wealthy businessmen, he said.

The intention of buyers would determine whether they would be |held responsible for tax-evasion, Tarit said.

"But most of the time, we have found that buyers usually know where the vehicles come from," he said.

In Khon Kaen yesterday, police cracked down on a luxury-car smuggling gang, seizing five Mercedes-Benz cars, a BMW sedan, two Toyota Alphards, three Nissan Cubes, a Volkswagen Beetle and a Suzuki wagon.

The chief of the Land Transport Department in Si Sa Ket was transferred to an inactive post yesterday. No detailed reasons were given for the swift transfer order, which reportedly came as a result of the issue.

The official, Danai Khote-arsa, said he took the post just seven months ago, and that his office had registered just seven vehicles, all of which were |legally imported.

Speaking before learning of his transfer, Danai said there that 23 |luxury cars had been registered in Si Sa Ket since 2010. One of them was later re-registered in Bangkok. Another car, a brown Jaguar XR, was set to be registered in Si Sa Ket but he halted issuance of a licence-plate |number following reports from police that it might have been illegally imported.

The Industrial Works Department estimates that there are around 3,000 luxury cars imported illegally through the auto-parts scheme.

Only 10 of them are registered with the department, as required by their petrol tank exceeding 15 litres, said director-general Natthaphol Natthasomboon. He said he would visit Land Transport offices in the Northeast to check on registration details and seek relevant information from the officials and the police.


-- The Nation 2013-06-04

[chooka]

Maybe reducing the outrages tariffs on vehicles may help to reduce the problem.

Edited June 3, 2013 by chooka

[Bellweather]

Just how far will this investigation go considering the world luxury implies wealth and in turn that implies powerful, well connected people. One expendable civil servant has been transferred to Bangkok because he may be involved in organising false registrations but will it spread out and go higher which is the usual question when this sort of situation arise ?.

The DSI may resolve this case on paper but in public is a different matter.

[Thai at Heart]

No word of cracking down on customs in the article?

Surely they are able to tell the difference between a whole car and spare parts? This is a vipers nest of corruption.

[slapout]

Tarit says "evidence does not lead to any specific politican". There might be some who will disagree with that statement as being wishful thinking on Sherlocks part.

With 5800+_ suspiciously imported luxury vehicles known already, there are probably more out there to be found, they should be able to find a politician involved somehow. Is it possible the fickle fingner may point to the band of ruling politicans/thugs?

[Spoonman]

I thought Thailand put a ban on importing cars and parts ?

[moe666]

The transferred official in his current position for 7 months what about the guy he followed seems he should be o0n the hot seat

[kimamey]

Tarit says "evidence does not lead to any specific politican". There might be some who will disagree with that statement as being wishful thinking on Sherlocks part.

With 5800+_ suspiciously imported luxury vehicles known already, there are probably more out there to be found, they should be able to find a politician involved somehow. Is it possible the fickle fingner may point to the band of ruling politicans/thugs?

Let's hope this is an unbiased investigation however Tarit has already admitted to being influenced by pressure from the last government so I'm not that hopeful.

[kimamey]

I thought Thailand put a ban on importing cars and parts ?

I doubt that as they would lose out on the tax from cars like MW, Mercedes ect. They did change the rules to stop the offspring of the rich studying abroad buying luxury cars whilst there and then shipping them in second hand to avoid tax as far as I know.

[hansgruber]

He registered just 7 cars in his seven months at the office.

Sounds like it's not busy enough to remain open anyway.

[Thai at Heart]

I thought Thailand put a ban on importing cars and parts ?

I doubt that as they would lose out on the tax from cars like MW, Mercedes ect. They did change the rules to stop the offspring of the rich studying abroad buying luxury cars whilst there and then shipping them in second hand to avoid tax as far as I know.

At 300% tax and duty, it seems they did essentially put a ban on importing this stuff legally. Lol

[Bellweather]

Just how far will this investigation go considering the world luxury implies wealth and in turn that implies powerful, well connected people. One expendable civil servant has been transferred to Bangkok because he may be involved in organising false registrations but will it spread out and go higher which is the usual question when this sort of situation arise ?.

The DSI may resolve this case on paper but in public is a different matter.

Well I might, just might, be proved wrong as IN Channel News has reported the DSI is targeting a relative of the Labour Minister for smuggling luxury cars but it's rather ambiguous as the headline reads son whereas the anchors were talking about a nephew.

However at the end of the day targeting is a long way from a successful conviction as we all know that here very little sticks to those and such as those.

[sirchai]

"But most of the time, we have found that buyers usually know where the vehicles come from," he said.

There's some truth in it.-

[tartempion]

Unfortunately this country levies hefty import taxes on ordinary cars manufactured abroad which reduces strongly available models to buyers, sadly it's called protectionism.

In Belgium I drive a Volkswagen Polo, my wife's Nissan March is crap in comparison, both cars equally expensive.

In Europe a VW Polo has 4 airbags standard, in Thailand standard Nissan March has two now, wow that's an improvement over my top Toyota Vigo who had a drivers airbag.

[A Member]

No word of cracking down on customs in the article?

Surely they are able to tell the difference between a whole car and spare parts? This is a vipers nest of corruption.

if memory serves Customs vies with Revenue Dept to be No.1 in the annual list of most corrupt government departments and it's sick that this is so well known yet nothing is ever done about it.

[Tatsujin]

with customs, excise, revenue, land-transport officials and politicians possibly linked to the illegal import and false registration of the cars

No xxxx . . . another exercise in futility . . . wait and see how many people actually get in trouble over this, I wager very few to none.

Edited June 4, 2013 by metisdead

[Thai at Heart]

with customs, excise, revenue, land-transport officials and politicians possibly linked to the illegal import and false registration of the cars

No shit . . . another exercise in futility . . . wait and see how many people actually get in trouble over this, I wager very few to none.

Just imagine if they investigated every luxury car owned by MPs and senators. Atty least 70% have probably been handled this way.

[Spoonman]

I thought Thailand put a ban on importing cars and parts ?

I doubt that as they would lose out on the tax from cars like MW, Mercedes ect. They did change the rules to stop the offspring of the rich studying abroad buying luxury cars whilst there and then shipping them in second hand to avoid tax as far as I know.

Errr it was a thread on here.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/548685-thai-cabinet-approves-ban-on-imports-of-used-vehicles/

Reading it though there is no mention of sports cars, how convenient !!

Edited June 4, 2013 by Spoonman

[blabla1]

Like monsanto, untouchable, because the fingers are in the pie...

[fred007]

Unfortunately this country levies hefty import taxes on ordinary cars manufactured abroad which reduces strongly available models to buyers, sadly it's called protectionism.

In Belgium I drive a Volkswagen Polo, my wife's Nissan March is crap in comparison, both cars equally expensive.

In Europe a VW Polo has 4 airbags standard, in Thailand standard Nissan March has two now, wow that's an improvement over my top Toyota Vigo who had a drivers airbag.

I agree with you about air bags when i go to the Thai motor show each year,I always make a point of asking the sales reps why is it your Toyota Mitsubishi Nissan and so on do not have the same amount of airbags as the vehicles you export O/S .

Half or more of the sales reps do not even know that the export models are far superior to those sold in Thailand and the other half of the sales reps tell me Thais will not pay for extra money for safety features.like more airbags

My questions has always been Choice and what price do you put on a life for the sake of 4 extra airbags that are not offered to the motoring public in Thailand

[Thai at Heart]

Unfortunately this country levies hefty import taxes on ordinary cars manufactured abroad which reduces strongly available models to buyers, sadly it's called protectionism.

In Belgium I drive a Volkswagen Polo, my wife's Nissan March is crap in comparison, both cars equally expensive.

In Europe a VW Polo has 4 airbags standard, in Thailand standard Nissan March has two now, wow that's an improvement over my top Toyota Vigo who had a drivers airbag.

I agree with you about air bags when i go to the Thai motor show each year,I always make a point of asking the sales reps why is it your Toyota Mitsubishi Nissan and so on do not have the same amount of airbags as the vehicles you export O/S .

Half or more of the sales reps do not even know that the export models are far superior to those sold in Thailand and the other half of the sales reps tell me Thais will not pay for extra money for safety features.like more airbags

My questions has always been Choice and what price do you put on a life for the sake of 4 extra airbags that are not offered to the motoring public in Thailand

Of course, the government could legislate for these issues, but that would just p**s off the local manufacturers.

[chooka]

Unfortunately this country levies hefty import taxes on ordinary cars manufactured abroad which reduces strongly available models to buyers, sadly it's called protectionism.

In Belgium I drive a Volkswagen Polo, my wife's Nissan March is crap in comparison, both cars equally expensive.

In Europe a VW Polo has 4 airbags standard, in Thailand standard Nissan March has two now, wow that's an improvement over my top Toyota Vigo who had a drivers airbag.

I agree with you about air bags when i go to the Thai motor show each year,I always make a point of asking the sales reps why is it your Toyota Mitsubishi Nissan and so on do not have the same amount of airbags as the vehicles you export O/S .

Half or more of the sales reps do not even know that the export models are far superior to those sold in Thailand and the other half of the sales reps tell me Thais will not pay for extra money for safety features.like more airbags

My questions has always been Choice and what price do you put on a life for the sake of 4 extra airbags that are not offered to the motoring public in Thailand

Maybe because other countries have certain safety standards and vehicles sold in those countries must meet those standards. I guess the vehicle safety standards are not as high in Thailand.

[affen02]

Shame on theese people, super rich but they still want more, in this case cheeting the government out of rightful tax money. They seem to forget that the government is in fact the people so they steal from the people. And how many times do we hear, the person investigated is moved to an inactive position, after a few months the case is forgotten, a small guy in the scam get a slap on the hands and life goes on. After all the commites put together to look into corruption the last 30 yrs, nothing has come of it, absolutly nothing. To day the corruption is worse than ever. Whatever happend to that government guy moved to an inactive position in the government office. Under a break in in his house, the thiefs found so much money in his house that they couldnt carry it out to the car. He could not explain where all the millions came from. Probably still working inactive position in government offices. How can the thais ever hope to get rid of graft when the system is working like this.

[Nickymaster]

Shame on theese people, super rich but they still want more, in this case cheeting the government out of rightful tax money. They seem to forget that the government is in fact the people so they steal from the people. And how many times do we hear, the person investigated is moved to an inactive position, after a few months the case is forgotten, a small guy in the scam get a slap on the hands and life goes on. After all the commites put together to look into corruption the last 30 yrs, nothing has come of it, absolutly nothing. To day the corruption is worse than ever. Whatever happend to that government guy moved to an inactive position in the government office. Under a break in in his house, the thiefs found so much money in his house that they couldnt carry it out to the car. He could not explain where all the millions came from. Probably still working inactive position in government offices. How can the thais ever hope to get rid of graft when the system is working like this.

You are right with your story BUT the majority of Thais support corruption (as long as they can share a bit).

Why should we foreigners care if Thais don't care? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

And the poor (with a bit of propaganda from the party they "support") are even willing to fight for (die) for their party.

Let go!

[Thai at Heart]

Shame on theese people, super rich but they still want more, in this case cheeting the government out of rightful tax money. They seem to forget that the government is in fact the people so they steal from the people. And how many times do we hear, the person investigated is moved to an inactive position, after a few months the case is forgotten, a small guy in the scam get a slap on the hands and life goes on. After all the commites put together to look into corruption the last 30 yrs, nothing has come of it, absolutly nothing. To day the corruption is worse than ever. Whatever happend to that government guy moved to an inactive position in the government office. Under a break in in his house, the thiefs found so much money in his house that they couldnt carry it out to the car. He could not explain where all the millions came from. Probably still working inactive position in government offices. How can the thais ever hope to get rid of graft when the system is working like this.

I take the 300% duty to be some form of income tax.

[Dodobird]

Shame on theese people, super rich but they still want more, in this case cheeting the government out of rightful tax money. They seem to forget that the government is in fact the people so they steal from the people. And how many times do we hear, the person investigated is moved to an inactive position, after a few months the case is forgotten, a small guy in the scam get a slap on the hands and life goes on. After all the commites put together to look into corruption the last 30 yrs, nothing has come of it, absolutly nothing. To day the corruption is worse than ever. Whatever happend to that government guy moved to an inactive position in the government office. Under a break in in his house, the thiefs found so much money in his house that they couldnt carry it out to the car. He could not explain where all the millions came from. Probably still working inactive position in government offices. How can the thais ever hope to get rid of graft when the system is working like this.

These people are just taking back what they have purportedly paid (taxes) to government.

[bigbamboo]

With the DSI now taking over it appears as if the government is looking to steer the investigation in the right direction ..... or the wrong one, depending on your point of view.

edit typo

Edited June 4, 2013 by bigbamboo

[Sayonarax]

When you try to steal from your own people with excessive taxes.. what do you expect?

Now all the poor farang will defend the laws.

[Tatsujin]

Shame on theese people, super rich but they still want more, in this case cheeting the government out of rightful tax money. They seem to forget that the government is in fact the people so they steal from the people. And how many times do we hear, the person investigated is moved to an inactive position, after a few months the case is forgotten, a small guy in the scam get a slap on the hands and life goes on. After all the commites put together to look into corruption the last 30 yrs, nothing has come of it, absolutly nothing. To day the corruption is worse than ever. Whatever happend to that government guy moved to an inactive position in the government office. Under a break in in his house, the thiefs found so much money in his house that they couldnt carry it out to the car. He could not explain where all the millions came from. Probably still working inactive position in government offices. How can the thais ever hope to get rid of graft when the system is working like this.

You are right with your story BUT the majority of Thais support corruption (as long as they can share a bit).

Why should we foreigners care if Thais don't care? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

And the poor (with a bit of propaganda from the party they "support") are even willing to fight for (die) for their party.

Let go!

I for one care because I live here and have made it my home . . . what affects the Thai's affects me also.

Edited June 4, 2013 by metisdead
Do not alter the font colors in quoted posts.

[MEL1]

Unfortunately this country levies hefty import taxes on ordinary cars manufactured abroad which reduces strongly available models to buyers, sadly it's called protectionism.

In Belgium I drive a Volkswagen Polo, my wife's Nissan March is crap in comparison, both cars equally expensive.

In Europe a VW Polo has 4 airbags standard, in Thailand standard Nissan March has two now, wow that's an improvement over my top Toyota Vigo who had a drivers airbag.

I agree with you about air bags when i go to the Thai motor show each year,I always make a point of asking the sales reps why is it your Toyota Mitsubishi Nissan and so on do not have the same amount of airbags as the vehicles you export O/S .

Half or more of the sales reps do not even know that the export models are far superior to those sold in Thailand and the other half of the sales reps tell me Thais will not pay for extra money for safety features.like more airbags

My questions has always been Choice and what price do you put on a life for the sake of 4 extra airbags that are not offered to the motoring public in Thailand

Maybe because other countries have certain safety standards and vehicles sold in those countries must meet those standards. I guess the vehicle safety standards are not as high in Thailand.

Important UN Vehicle Safety Regulations

Reg. 12 Steering mechanism - frontal impact (partly covered by Reg.94)

Reg. 14 Seat belt anchorages

Reg. 16 Safety belts and restraint systems

Reg. 17 Strength of seats, their anchorages and any head restraint

Reg. 21 Interior fittings

Reg. 26 External projections

Reg. 44 Child restraint systems

Reg. 94 Occupant protection in frontal collision

Reg. 95 Occupant protection in lateral collision

GTR 7 Head restraints

GTR 8 Electronic stability control

GTR 9 Pedestrian protection

Parties to the 1958 Agreement (48)

Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus*, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland*, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta*, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, European Community

Parties to 1998 Agreement (31)

Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, European Community

---------

As you can see, Thailand pulled out of the UN agreement 15 years ago. Even the UN basic safety standards have nothing on EuroNcap and FMVSS testing.

If you look ar Reg. 26 and GTR 9, what these mean is that all exterior radii at the front of the car are to be 6mm or more (8mm in EuroN) and there are to be no emblems that do not retract on the front of the vehicle. When you see the monstrocities driving around Thailand, and Asia in general, with homemade bullbars and strange emblems like daggers it beggars belief that safety standards are not imposed worldwide! And people wonder why road deaths are so much higher in Asia !

-mel.