Thailand's D S I Ready To Name Buyers Of Cars: Luxury-Car Scam

[webfact]

LUXURY-CAR SCAM
DSI ready to name buyers of super cars
Piyanut Tumnukasetchai
The Nation

Tarit says owners will be given a chance to come forward first

BANGKOK: -- Politicians, their relatives, government officials and celebrities are among the owners of the luxury cars suspected to be involved in a tax-evasion scandal.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has said that it will first target vehicles that have been declared as locally reassembled and are worth more than Bt4 million in the market. "There are about 145 such vehicles," DSI chief Tarit Pengdith said yesterday.

Recently, suspicion has arisen that some of these vehicles have been wrongly declared as locally reassembled in a move to avoid full taxation, especially as inspection at reassembling facilities revealed that the units have neither the technology nor the equipment to put together super cars.

Tarit said 6,862 vehicles have been registered as reassembled in Thailand to date, adding that relevant authorities will soon be releasing a list of names of people who allegedly own these cars.

"We will first allow them to come forward on a voluntary basis, but if they ignore us, we will issue a summons," he said.

Tarit said he believed that owners of about 20 per cent of the vehicles under the suspicion might possibly have bought their cars correctly. "For such cases, six relevant authorities will simply review the evidence and put their cases to rest," he said.

Tarit added that the authorities will also focus on taking action against the car smugglers and buyers are advised to hand over their vehicles to avoid legal problems. He went on to say that the buyers can sue the sellers for compensation.

He said that the DSI will be checking its list of super car owners against that of the Land Transport Department's on Monday before alerting the owners of the 145 reassembled vehicles suspected of being involved in tax evasion.

Tarit said he had already told the Customs Department to block anybody trying to drive a reassembled car out of the country.

"This measure is needed to ensure that nobody will try to hide his or her cars in a neighbouring country," he said. An informed source disclosed that records showed some individuals owned dozens of these reassembled vehicles.

The list shows, for instance, that a person named Phanwasin Wilaikaew owns 76 cars including BMW, Benz and Volkswagen. Trongjai Issarapanich owns 48 vehicles including Lexus, Mini Cooper and Volkswagen. Nanthaporn Puengprayoon owns 58, including Land Rover, BMW and Benz. Worawut Asavachok owns 45 reassembled vehicles. The Laksameeseths own 62 vehicles.

Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) secretary-general Seehanat Prayoonrat said his agency had previously investigated seven or eight importers of luxury cars before.

"The amount of money they transferred to an overseas account was suspiciously large," he said, adding that if asked, his agency would be happy to provide further information to the DSI and the national police.


-- The Nation 2013-06-08

[waza]

SATIRE

Tarit said Abhist is the guy behind it all and will be charged accordingly. To a chorus of "What about Abhist" from the TVF, "I'm not a Thaksin supporter butt" choir.

While Chalerm slurred its a group of people with the initials RTP.

Edited June 8, 2013 by waza

[arthurboy]

Tarit said he had already told the Customs Department to block anybody trying to drive a reassembled car out of the country.

Scene: Media circus.

Tarit: Stop this now.

Custom's Head Honcho: Ok, boss.

Cameras flash, smiles all round.

Custom's Head Honcho: Aside: (You can pick up your envelope from the usual place.)

Tarit: Cheers, ears.

Curtain falls to rapturous applause.

Edited June 8, 2013 by arthurboy

[Bellweather]

Another enquiry being handled with the usual Thai sense of due dispatch and urgency - publish a list of those involved and invite them to go to the DSI on a voluntary basis failing which they will be summoned If past actions are anything to go by the summons will give a date of attendance sometime during 2014 but not during the World Cup..

[geriatrickid]

These things must be written and planned by the producers and writers of Thai soap operas.

[LuckyLew]

They guilty are being offered time to deliver a large stuffed envelop

[bigbamboo]

These things must be written and planned by the producers and writers of Thai soap operas.

Except Thai soap operas are more plausible.

[noitom]

They're ready to "name," but do little else.

[Thai at Heart]

Surely it has to be the importers not the owners who are on the hook, unless they are one in the same which is unlikely.

Who signed off on the import documents for these cars?

[Halion]

Bastards, The ground work has been laid for those in positions of power and influence to get of the hook. Just another example of the how this duplicitious regime exorerates the rich and will come down on the common man.

If Tarit is ready to name the owners why is it that only a few names have been given. Silly question.

[NongKhaiKid]

Another enquiry being handled with the usual Thai sense of due dispatch and urgency - publish a list of those involved and invite them to go to the DSI on a voluntary basis failing which they will be summoned If past actions are anything to go by the summons will give a date of attendance sometime during 2014 but not during the World Cup..

Politicians and family members, government officials and celebrities are suspected so let's give them time to get their stories, paperwork and witnesses in order unless they're Democrats.

[Thai at Heart]

He went on to say that the buyers can sue the sellers for compensation.

Is he really suggesting that the buyers pay the taxes that the importers should have paid and then sue the importers?

Never going to happen.....

[hanuman2543]

"Tarit says owners will be given a chance to come forward first"

In Germany they do similar things. The tax authorities bought cd's from Switzerland and Liechtenstein containing the names of Germans avoiding paying tax in Germany e.g. Uli Hoeness. Then these people can admit the tax fraud at their tax office and pay only the tax and avoid criminal prosecution for tax evasion.

Not only in Thailand, but always for the rich and famous

Edited June 8, 2013 by hanuman2543

[EyesWideOpen]

The dog and pony show grinds on. Two things will happen tomorrow.

The sun will rise, and you will NEVER EVER see a list of hiso people

and corrupt government officials who have bought tax cheating super

cars. Not even sure why the government spews out crap like this..

There was a story in the Nation that said Chalerm had a total of 88 million baht worth of cars including his pink Bentley.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Unsatisfied-lust-causes-short-delay-30178170.html

"Chalerm also owns a Bentley Mulsanne that's worth around Bt33 million and a BMW 760I, also pink, valued at Bt18 million. Now there's a Bt12-million Jaguar XJ too."

So Chalerm is either sleeping poorly, or he will make this whole issue go away quickly.. :-)

Edited June 8, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[Thai at Heart]

The dog and pony show grinds on. Two things will happen tomorrow.

The sun will rise, and you will NEVER EVER see a list of hiso people

and corrupt government officials who have bought tax cheating super

cars. Not even sure why the government spews out crap like this..

Presumably customs has a file somewhere called, "car imports". Why doesn't he start there. As opposed to car buyers?

[finnomick]

Quote : " Tarit said he had already told the Customs Department to block anybody trying to drive a reassembled car out of the country " end quote. How about telling the Customs Department to do their job properly in the first place to stop the illegal import of all cars and motorcycles ?

[finnomick]

SATIRE

Tarit said Abhist is the guy behind it all and will be charged accordingly. To a chorus of "What about Abhist" from the TVF, "I'm not a Thaksin supporter butt" choir.

While Chalerm slurred its a group of people with the initials RTP.

And who is this " Abhist " then ?

[Neilly]

Looks like it's about face here when it comes to flash cars

[trainman34014]

The usual cover up for the rich. Instead of issuing lists they should be just going and arresting the 'suspects' and charging them with whatever offences have been committed. Can't have that though; too many 'connected' people involved.

[gobi]

The dog and pony show grinds on. Two things will happen tomorrow.

The sun will rise, and you will NEVER EVER see a list of hiso people

and corrupt government officials who have bought tax cheating super

cars. Not even sure why the government spews out crap like this..

There was a story in the Nation that said Chalerm had a total of 88 million baht worth of cars including his pink Bentley.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Unsatisfied-lust-causes-short-delay-30178170.html

"Chalerm also owns a Bentley Mulsanne that's worth around Bt33 million and a BMW 760I, also pink, valued at Bt18 million. Now there's a Bt12-million Jaguar XJ too."

So Chalerm is either sleeping poorly, or he will make this whole issue go away quickly.. :-)

There was a story in..............Say no more, you "forgot" to quote the last bit of the story

Add it all up and you've got Bt88 million worth of wheels. None of the four cars was declared as a personal asset, ASTV observes,

ASTV, now who could that be owned by? None other than the person whose name starts with initial S, Sondhi Limthongkul.

What a suprise .

[EyesWideOpen]

Whoops !!! First fish caught in the net.If names actually do come out, I will be curious to see the breakdown between government officials and regular wealthy people. So far, score one for government people... :-)

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Ex-minister-linked-to-Rolls-Royce-30207858.html

"A black Rolls-Royce suspected to have been involved in a tax-evasion scandal is linked to a former government minister."

"His name cards and a Bangkok hospital's medicine package with his name on it were found inside the luxury car that had been parked at a resort in Si Sa Ket, Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary Dussadee Arayawut said yesterday."

" The Rolls-Royce was found hidden at the resort after six "super cars" caught fire while being transported to the northeastern province for registration. It was believed to be the seventh vehicle involved in this tax-evasion scandal."

[EyesWideOpen]

The dog and pony show grinds on. Two things will happen tomorrow.

The sun will rise, and you will NEVER EVER see a list of hiso people

and corrupt government officials who have bought tax cheating super

cars. Not even sure why the government spews out crap like this..

There was a story in the Nation that said Chalerm had a total of 88 million baht worth of cars including his pink Bentley.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Unsatisfied-lust-causes-short-delay-30178170.html

"Chalerm also owns a Bentley Mulsanne that's worth around Bt33 million and a BMW 760I, also pink, valued at Bt18 million. Now there's a Bt12-million Jaguar XJ too."

So Chalerm is either sleeping poorly, or he will make this whole issue go away quickly.. :-)

There was a story in..............Say no more, you "forgot" to quote the last bit of the story

Add it all up and you've got Bt88 million worth of wheels. None of the four cars was declared as a personal asset, ASTV observes,

ASTV, now who could that be owned by? None other than the person whose name starts with initial S, Sondhi Limthongkul.

What a suprise .

The story was in the Nation. Given the mind boggling libel laws in Thailand I will assume the factual parts of the story are correct. If ASTV pipes up by saying he forgot to declare the cars in his asset report to the government, that is a separate issue with political overtones..

[Hunter88]

Tarit said he believed that owners of about 20 per cent of the vehicles under the suspicion might possibly have bought their cars correctly. "For such cases, six relevant authorities will simply review the evidence and put their cases to rest,"

No chance for an corruption with that idea.

[Thai at Heart]

The dog and pony show grinds on. Two things will happen tomorrow.

The sun will rise, and you will NEVER EVER see a list of hiso people

and corrupt government officials who have bought tax cheating super

cars. Not even sure why the government spews out crap like this..

There was a story in the Nation that said Chalerm had a total of 88 million baht worth of cars including his pink Bentley.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Unsatisfied-lust-causes-short-delay-30178170.html

"Chalerm also owns a Bentley Mulsanne that's worth around Bt33 million and a BMW 760I, also pink, valued at Bt18 million. Now there's a Bt12-million Jaguar XJ too."

So Chalerm is either sleeping poorly, or he will make this whole issue go away quickly.. :-)

There was a story in..............Say no more, you "forgot" to quote the last bit of the story

Add it all up and you've got Bt88 million worth of wheels. None of the four cars was declared as a personal asset, ASTV observes,

ASTV, now who could that be owned by? None other than the person whose name starts with initial S, Sondhi Limthongkul.

What a suprise .

Reading the link, it also points out that none of them are bullet proof. Lol

[dave1212]

The dog and pony show grinds on. Two things will happen tomorrow.

The sun will rise, and you will NEVER EVER see a list of hiso people

and corrupt government officials who have bought tax cheating super

cars. Not even sure why the government spews out crap like this..

There was a story in the Nation that said Chalerm had a total of 88 million baht worth of cars including his pink Bentley.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Unsatisfied-lust-causes-short-delay-30178170.html

"Chalerm also owns a Bentley Mulsanne that's worth around Bt33 million and a BMW 760I, also pink, valued at Bt18 million. Now there's a Bt12-million Jaguar XJ too."

So Chalerm is either sleeping poorly, or he will make this whole issue go away quickly.. :-)

There was a story in..............Say no more, you "forgot" to quote the last bit of the story

>Add it all up and you've got Bt88 million worth of wheels. None of the four cars was declared as a personal asset, ASTV observes,

ASTV, now who could that be owned by? None other than the person whose name starts with initial S, Sondhi Limthongkul.

What a suprise .

well....I'm thinking if this article was a complete bunch of lies wouldn't your mate Chalerm be screaming "defamation" ?

[drdoom6996]

NOT, whoever the real buyer is they stayed far away from the action.

[smedly]

and they are going to do the same for motorbikes - all the falang HD and big bike owners could be in trouble

[rubl]

"145 reassembled vehicles suspected of being involved in tax evasion", followed by the names of five people who own a total of 289 reassembled cars.

Does anyone recognize the names ?

[OzMick]

Surely it has to be the importers not the owners who are on the hook, unless they are one in the same which is unlikely.

Who signed off on the import documents for these cars?

Caveat emptor. The buyer has the same right to the goods as the seller - you buy a stolen car, you lose it. You buy a car that has not had the correct import tax paid, you have the choice of paying the tax owing or losing the vehicle.

You then have the right to sue or use consumer protection laws to recover your losses, and to lodge a criminal complaint with the police against the seller where fraud/misrepresentation was involved - good luck with that.

[puck2]

It would be very interesting to ask Mr. Chalerm about the taxes for his pink Bentley. But Chalerm is only one tree within a big forest.

So I guess all attempts to open this scam will go down like a lead balloon because of suppressed evidence