A senior revenue official sacked for cheating the state of over 3 billion baht in tax refund

[webfact]

A senior revenue official sacked for cheating the state of over 3 billion baht in tax refund



BANGKOK: -- A senior revenue official has been sacked for allegedly falsifying tax refund claim documents causing the state to lose 3,209 million baht in tax refund.

Finance Minister Sommai Phasi said that the civil service subcommittee of the ministry had recommended the dismissal of Mr Siripong Reeyakarnthirachote, a C9 level revenue official, after finding him guilty of gross violation of discipline for falsity tax refund claim documents resulting to the state losing 3,209 million baht in tax refund.

Apart from Mr Siripong, Minister Sommai said that three other C-9 level officials and 14 lower-ranking officials were also involved in the scam and they were still under investigation.

Besides disciplinary actions, the minister said that the dismissed officials would face criminal and civil litigation and the case would be passed on to the Department of Special Investigation and the National Anti-Corruption Commission for further actions.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/a-senior-revenue-official-sacked-for-cheating-the-state-of-over-3-billion-baht-in-tax-refund


-- Thai PBS 2015-05-14

[ratcatcher]

Besides disciplinary actions, the minister said that the dismissed officials would face criminal and civil litigation

[tx22cb]

No way a civil servant can siphon off 3 billion Baht without those above him knowing about it.

Even if his bosses claimed to be ignorant, they should be fired for gross negligence of supervision.

Anyway, I don't feel so bad now when I omit things from my tax returns.

[krystian]

I hope this would explain why my tax refund this year is faaaarrrr much lower than last year

[Fat Haggis]

No way a civil servant can siphon off 3 billion Baht without those above him knowing about it.

Even if his bosses claimed to be ignorant, they should be fired for gross negligence of supervision.

Anyway, I don't feel so bad now when I omit things from my tax returns.

Nick Leeson managed to do it without arousing any suspicions at first.

[brabo2180]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

[Pikeybkk]

No way a civil servant can siphon off 3 billion Baht without those above him knowing about it.

Even if his bosses claimed to be ignorant, they should be fired for gross negligence of supervision.

Anyway, I don't feel so bad now when I omit things from my tax returns.

Nick Leeson managed to do it without arousing any suspicions at first.

nick leeson worked for an investment bank and was a derivatives traders using highly leveraged position....no comparison mate

[Chang_paarp]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

3209 million baht according to the OP. So 3.209 billion.

[impulse]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

I figure 3,209 million is 3.209 billion. But I'm American, and we use periods for decimal places, and commas to separate thousands.

I can understand how some Europeans may read that differently- I often get confused looking at spreadsheets from Euro types.

[khunPer]

3 thousand 209 million baht tax missing - so that's why the tax revenue was lower than expected; re. an earlier news flash a couple of weeks ago...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Curiously, nowhere in the article does it allude to WHY this guy and his cohorts were allegedly running this scheme...

Veteran TV readers can only assume, that some kind of commission or kickback scheme was operating, where the government guys were getting or taking a cut of all the illegal/inflated tax returns they were processing/approving.

Surely, they weren't just doing to it to be the Thai version of Robin Hood. There was money to be made, somewhere in this.

That fact seems to be entirely lost on the whizzes at ThaiPBS. But then again, no Thai civil servant would effectively rob the government of 3 billion+ baht...

Edited May 14, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Fat Haggis]

No way a civil servant can siphon off 3 billion Baht without those above him knowing about it.

Even if his bosses claimed to be ignorant, they should be fired for gross negligence of supervision.

Anyway, I don't feel so bad now when I omit things from my tax returns.

Nick Leeson managed to do it without arousing any suspicions at first.

nick leeson worked for an investment bank and was a derivatives traders using highly leveraged position....no comparison mate

He still did it under their noses without them having a clue for most of the time, most acts of fraud are done with small denominations arousing less suspicion ?

[Thai at Heart]

Well, this is solved very simply. All those certificates were given to companies.

Get them to pay it back...

[brabo2180]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

3209 million baht according to the OP. So 3.209 billion.

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

I figure 3,209 million is 3.209 billion. But I'm American, and we use periods for decimal places, and commas to separate thousands.

I can understand how some Europeans may read that differently- I often get confused looking at spreadsheets from Euro types.

OK, got it. Thanks

[JAG]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

I figure 3,209 million is 3.209 billion. But I'm American, and we use periods for decimal places, and commas to separate thousands.

I can understand how some Europeans may read that differently- I often get confused looking at spreadsheets from Euro types.

I often get confused looking at spreadsheets, period. (Or perhaps I should say full stop).

[dabhand]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

I figure 3,209 million is 3.209 billion. But I'm American, and we use periods for decimal places, and commas to separate thousands.

I can understand how some Europeans may read that differently- I often get confused looking at spreadsheets from Euro types.

Worked for a time in India (still do, off and on, but that's another story!) and took a bit to get used to lakhs (100,000) and crores (ten million) that are used in most local financial/tax reporting. Their spreadsheets (yes, excel can be set for the Indian system!) are fine up to 1,000 but they then operate on commas for every two additional digits. Easiest way, for me, was to just get shot of all the commas and start again on a spreadsheet that I could understand.

It certainly had my head nodding!!

[EyesWideOpen]

At this point with an endless stream of news about corrupt officials,

I am starting to wonder there are any officials that are NOT corrupt.

The system is broken here, all it does is plug in new crooks. ;-(

[Chaz1819]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

Article mentions over 3,000 million. Different way of expressing over 3 billion. [emoji15]

[h90]

No way a civil servant can siphon off 3 billion Baht without those above him knowing about it.

Even if his bosses claimed to be ignorant, they should be fired for gross negligence of supervision.

Anyway, I don't feel so bad now when I omit things from my tax returns.

Well Shinawatra government.......not anymore

[webfact]

Revenue official fired over VAT scam
Erich Parpart
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A high-ranking (C-9) public servant under the Revenue Department has been axed because of a false VAT-refund case worth more than Bt3.2 billion.

Finance Minister Sommai Phasee said yesterday that the ministry had decided to dismiss Siripong Riyakarnteerachote, who allegedly helped a group of 30 non-existing business operators, who claimed to be exporters of metals and ores, to claim refunds of value-added tax falsely.

Three or four more C-9 officials, and maybe other higher-ranking bureaucrats in the department, are expected to be let go in the near future because of their involvement in the case. The highest rank in the Thai bureaucracy is C-11.

Siripong, and probably the others, will also face criminal charges for tax fraud laid by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Sommai said.

He added that there were "many other officials" ranked below C-9 who were also involved in the case, which is under the investigation of the Revenue Department.

The case surfaced in 2010, and the officer was transferred from Bangkok Area Revenue Office 22 to Narathiwat Area Revenue Office in the South pending investigations by the DSI, the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the Revenue Department and the Finance Ministry.

"I have never seen such extreme corruption in my 30 years at the ministry," Sommai remarked.

The names of the board members at these fake export companies were the same, the registered addresses of the firms were the same, and none of them was actually operating. The 30 non-existent firms made orders from six non-existent suppliers before filing for the VAT refund, which was approved by Siripong and other officials.

At first, the tax refund was paid by Bangkok Area Revenue Office 22 to only 25 of the fake operators, since the department had spotted irregularities.

In the first month of the pay-out, a total of Bt339.6 million was disbursed, before Siripong approved the payment of another Bt2.869 billion later.

In total, around Bt3.209 billion was paid to the non-existent operators.

Sommai said the private sector's role in the scam would be dealt with by the DSI.

"The NACC has been informed about the extent of the corruption and the cases against Siripong.

"If we can close down all these tax loopholes, I believe that the government's income from tax revenue will increase by 10-12 per cent next year," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Revenue-official-fired-over-VAT-scam-30260107.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-15

[meatboy]

Besides disciplinary actions, the minister said that the dismissed officials would face criminal and civil litigation

in the meentime they can go on hollidays as long as they promise to come back.

[janpharma]

Give them a publlic execution!...Maybe it will make others start to think...

[arrowsdawdle]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

Thousand million?

[lujanit]

I cannot get over the fact he wasn't moved to an inactive post. Maybe, hopefully there is change in the air.

[eggers]

Tip of the proverbial Iceberg; no doubt many more involved in this or similar scams!!

[Lupatria]

If the gov. can't provide happiness to the people, some many take it in their own hands...

Edited May 15, 2015 by Lupatria

[IamNoone88]

He got fired. This will be buried. A new team will take over. Will the tax evaders be punished? I doubt it. Life goes on.

[topt]

From The Nation article ""I have never seen such extreme corruption in my 30 years at the ministry," Sommai remarked." - I think he is in awe and wondering why he never thought of it........

[glegolo]

OMG guys!! Havebt any of you gone to school. 3 thousand million is for God sake 3 billon, come on..

Maybe the lot of you should attend school in Scandinavia, and learn some correct stuff!! Geography for the americans and mathematics for the english people.

Glegolo

[soalbundy]

well if you are going to cheat make it worth while, no point in mucking around with a mere million when you can make billions although a lot of the money probably got syphoned off on its way up the food chain