Supercar importer to sue DSI for damages to his business

[webfact]

Supercar importer to sue DSI for damages to his business

 

 

BANGKOK: -- A luxury car importer says he will sue the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) for 50 million baht compensation after searching his two showrooms without court’s warrants and impounding all his 34 supercars.

 

In addition, the importer is considering to petition the prime minister over the DSI’s action which he said was an abuse of power.

 

At the press conference to counter the DSI’s claim that the vehicles displayed at two showrooms on Ratchadapisek and Ekkamai either stolen or evaded tax, Mr Inthrasak Tetch-tirasiri or Boy Unity, managing director of STT Auto Car and STT Auto Services, said he would file a 50-million baht damage suit against the DSI for business damages after DSI officials blocked entrances to his two showrooms without court’s warrants, forcing his showrooms business to close down for three weeks.

 

They just accused his company illegally imported these supercars.

 

Such action which he said was an abuse of power has badly his company’s reputation and tarnished his credibility.

 

Although he had told them all his vehicles were legitimately and legally imported through all customs procedures and showed them all official documents, they didn’t listen, and just said some of these cars were stolen from the UK, and their declared prices were lower than actual prices.

 

He stated that his cars were correctly taxed in accordance with the rules of the Customs Department and the documents attest to the fact that none of his cars were on the list of stolen vehicles.

 

He showed an example of the tax calculations for the McLaren sports car, saying the price is according to those stated by the UKs AutoCar Magazine multiplied by 328% which is then multiplied by the exchange rate.

 

It amounted to 31 million baht in grey-market price.

 

He affirmed that these calculations are according to the Customs Departments No. 371 guideline.

 

The calculated tax amount is 14 million baht and yet they are saying that this is not an accurate amount and is undervalued, he said.

 

He said his company didn’t undervalue it, it was in accordance with the customs guidelines and he had adhered to them.

He said other importers have also complied with this rule.

 

He went on saying that as for their claims that taxes on other cars besides supercars were also undervalued, he said he could give other example of the Toyota Alphard MPV. His company used the same guidelines to compute taxes.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/supercar-importer-sue-dsi-damages-business/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-06-06

[rkidlad]

The law enforcement agencies here really needs to have protocol. Can't just keep making it up as they go along. That's just lawless and sets terrible examples to the public. 

[champers]

He seems confident that he has a strong case with evidence to back him up.... so good luck to him. Two sides to every story.

[Chang_paarp]

11 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

The law enforcement agencies here really needs to have protocol. Can't just keep making it up as they go along. That's just lawless and sets terrible examples to the public. 

 

You mean unlike the military,

[Chris Lawrence]

Need to follow the paper trail.

[YetAnother]

hopefully there is a process here for throwing out frivolous lawsuits

[darksidedog]

If he is correct that the DSI did not have any warrants to either search or seize, then they are going to be in a lot of trouble. The cops do seem to think here they can walk in anywhere they like, but they cannot. Same as your house. If they do not have a warrant, you can tell them to eff off. Anything they took away without having warrants is essentially theft. I wish him the best of luck in taking them to the cleaners, especially if all of his vehicles and documentation are indeed correct.

[richard_smith237]

I suspect this is just spin, face saving.... 

 

Are there really any wealthy business men here who are 100% 'clean' - of course there is no way of proving this until the numbers are truly looked at. However, it is a fairly safe assumption that the regulations were stretched to the advantage of the importer.

 

It was already reported that the DLT in undertaxing the car's claimed they were unaware of the 'true' value of some of these supercars... hmm... I suspect they were 'encouraged' to look the other way in accepting these low valuations... the wheels were greased from the ground up...  and of course, then there is the issue of the vehicles being stollen. 

 

What we will see now is the typical juvenile claim and counter claim, face saving... the issue will disappear, everyone will have 'made their money' and life will go on...  we will see this same news item in another handful of years. 

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

I am pretty sure one side here is totally corrupt and wrong, let's wait to see if both sides are.

[tomwct]

In Thailand, if your guilty of something you just say I'm going to sue you. Thaksin used this while he was PM and still does from Dubai.

I'm going to sue you! Good Luck Mate! I think all the car importers of Luxury Cars have underpaid taxes for years sharing the savings

along the way. The Thai Way!

[Ulic]

Another case of the pot calling the kettle black I think.

[rosst]

33 minutes ago, ALLSEEINGEYE said:

I am pretty sure one side here is totally corrupt and wrong, let's wait to see if both sides are.

I like that, and we will never see because it will all happen behind closed doors. 

[CantSpell]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

I suspect this is just spin, face saving.... 

 

Are there really any wealthy business men here who are 100% 'clean' - of course there is no way of proving this until the numbers are truly looked at. However, it is a fairly safe assumption that the regulations were stretched to the advantage of the importer.

 

What we will see now is the typical juvenile claim and counter claim, face saving... the issue will disappear, everyone will have 'made their money' and life will go on...  we will see this same news item in another handful of years. 

I do agree with that...

 

If most of the importers are messing prices up (down ) with tricks, the guy would probably have sold nothing following rules...

Who the heck follows rules here anyway 

[Tilacme]

So are there 40 supercars stolen from the UK milling around or not? Main suspect is denying he has any so where are they supposed to be.  It is becoming very hard to know the facts with press releases - and I don't blame TV in this.

[The Deerhunter]

If they got it wrong, how & why????   This should be so simple. Maybe they were trying to get to him before someone tipped him off.  We will probably never know  It will all be sorted behind closed doors. 

[peterb17]

4 hours ago, YetAnother said:

hopefully there is a process here for throwing out frivolous lawsuits

 

If this guy is running a legitimate business- using UK published retail prices - then adding the ridiculous 328% and managing to sell 31 million baht cars- and presumably having paid the import tax.

 

I think I too would be a bit angry to say the least - with all the recent news about super cars - a well heeled buyer would need to have peace of mind that the car is legit. 

 

Not all businesses are corrupt 

[Techno Viking]

Why is he and his company calculating import taxes and not customs ?

[worgeordie]

Secondhand car dealer.even if they are Supercars, must be telling the truth !

regards worgeordie

[Tilacme]

7 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Secondhand car dealer.even if they are Supercars, must be telling the truth !

regards worgeordie

Pray tell, who has the high ground for telling the truth here, is this 40 stolen car report correct or is it and excuse for an envy purge.

[snowgard]

1 hour ago, Techno Viking said:

Why is he and his company calculating import taxes and not customs ?

If I understanded it right some importers of supercars have a agreement with the customs that they can show the supercars in their showrooms and pay the tax first after they sold the cars.

But I am not sure.

[Techno Viking]

1 minute ago, snowgard said:

If I understanded it right some importers of supercars have a agreement with the customs that they can show the supercars in their showrooms and pay the tax first after they sold the cars.

But I am not sure.

But surely Customs calculates the taxes.

[dominique355]

It's not just the importer who might suffer from a bad reputation and even closing their business but also the owners of such supercars.

Even if the owner can prove that the price he paid to the dealer/importer is in fact more than 100% + 328% of the price paid in Europe, the DSI still impounds his car and would not release it despite all the evidence.

I know what I am talking about, believe me.

 

[impulse]

8 hours ago, champers said:

He seems confident that he has a strong case with evidence to back him up....

 

Or maybe the fix is in after negotiating for several weeks.

 

[impulse]

3 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

But surely Customs calculates the taxes.

 

Even the numbers in the OP don't make sense.

 

The tax was 14 million baht, which is 328% of 4.26 million baht, which is about $125,000.  Is that all a McClaren Super car is worth in Europe?

 

Adding the 14 million tax to the 4.26 million gives a value of 18.26 Million, not even close to the "grey-market price of 31 million".

 

But I wouldn't be surprised to see incorrect formulas or typo's in the "Customs Department #371" guideline, either- deliberately planted years ago in anticipation of this very occasion so they're all forgiven for past sins.

 

Following the paper trail could be interesting, but probably in vain unless they can also test to see if the ink is dry, and whether it's over a week old...

 

Edited June 6, 2017 by impulse

[halloween]

Looking at his calculation, Autocar price times 328% (which I assume equates to 228% tax) gives a final price of B31 million and tax of B14 million.

 

But if tax is 2/3 Thailand price of car, should it not be at least B20 million? Perhaps the landed price is more like B21 million, and the other B10 million is mark-up.

[USPatriot]

He will find out filing a lawsuit against any government is worthless

[Acharn]

9 hours ago, darksidedog said:

If he is correct that the DSI did not have any warrants to either search or seize, then they are going to be in a lot of trouble. The cops do seem to think here they can walk in anywhere they like, but they cannot. Same as your house. If they do not have a warrant, you can tell them to eff off. Anything they took away without having warrants is essentially theft. I wish him the best of luck in taking them to the cleaners, especially if all of his vehicles and documentation are indeed correct.

Tell them to eff off? I don't know what country you're from but I know for sure that isn't true in the United States and I'm pretty certain it's not true in Great Britain any longer and hasn't been for at least a hundred years. In the U.S. all they need to do is tell the judge they had reasonable suspicion that a crime was taking place. It's never true, but the Supreme Court has held it's a sufficient defense.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, USPatriot said:

He will find out filing a lawsuit against any government is worthless

 

Unless you're one of the Elite in Thailand.  The government works for them.

 

Think about it.  Nobody in the government has a personal stake in winning a lawsuit.  For a nominal fee, they can make it go just about any way that lines their pockets.

 

And don't forget the silver or lead incentive program.  Do what we ask and we'll reward you with silver.  Don't do what we ask and we'll punish you with lead.  That's how so many government officials are gunned down in their car on the way home or in their driveway getting off their scooter. (Speaking of which, it's been kinda quiet lately)

 

Edited June 6, 2017 by impulse

[oldlakey]

5 hours ago, Tilacme said:

Pray tell, who has the high ground for telling the truth here, is this 40 stolen car report correct or is it and excuse for an envy purge.

secondhand car dealer, its a brit joke, and probably applies the world over

[MartinBangkok]

Guys, do you think a single wealthy (and connected) Thai car buyer would pay the correct (ridiculous)  import tax for a super car imported to Thailand?

Personally, I don't think there is a single super car in Thailand that has been correctly taxed.

The import companies, car buyers and tax authorities are equally corrupt.

I welcome anyone to prove me wrong....

This story is about an internal fallout/disagreement over the sharing of illegal proceeds between some of them.

Edited June 6, 2017 by MartinBangkok
grammatical