2 Thai luxury car importers arrested for tax evasion worth 59 million baht

Two Thai luxury car importers surrendered to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) yesterday, December 26, for tax evasion after avoiding paying 59 million baht in taxes on four Lamborghini cars.

DSI seized four Lamborghini Gallardos last year after finding that these cars were imported into the country without paying tax. The four cars were imported between July and October 2013, including the grey, white and black Lamborghini Gallardos.

The importers were identified as a Thai woman named Kotchaporn, a Thai man named Damrong, and another Thai man named Chanasin. They were the executive directors of two car importing companies, Cha Yen and S.U.V. Auto.

Authorities managed to arrest the first suspect, Kotchaporn, at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on December 5 when she attempted to flee the country. Two other suspects, Damrong and Chanasin later surrendered themselves at the DSI office in Bangkok yesterday.

The three suspects face charges under Section 243 of the Customs Act: importing goods by evading or attempting to evade payment of customs duties. The penalty is imprisonment for up to 10 years, a fine of up to four times the amount of the expected tax, or both.

The current prime minister (PM), Srettha Thavisin, also faced a tax evasion and minimisation drama this year after being accused by former Thai politician and soap massage king Chuvit Kamolvisit in August.

Chuvit accused Srettha and his associates of devising a tax avoidance and reduction strategy for his property development company Sansiri before he became PM. Srettha denied the allegations and sued Chuvit for defamation.

According to the latest update last week, the two parties have reportedly reached an agreement and plan to drop the lawsuits against each other very soon.

Chuvit announced that he was stepping down from his role as a political activist to fight liver cancer. He reportedly travelled to England with his daughter in November this year for further treatment.