BANGKOK, June 10 – The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Monday accepted a case in which 30 private companies allegedly filed Bt2.6 billion in false claims for VAT refund as a special case for further investigation.
The case was submitted to the DSI by the Ministry of Finance, said Tarit Pengdith, DSI director-general.
The DSI will also ask the state-owned Krung Thai bank, responsible for VAT refunds, to freeze the accounts of all the companies.
Further investigation will be conducted to scrutinise other companies which are suspected of being involved in such frauds.
The investigation came after the arrest of a major falsified tax invoice scammer and inspection of seized evidence of counterfeit tax invoices for goods valued almost Bt3 billion.
It is the biggest such case in two years.
The arrest followed a tip about a fraudulent tax invoice business ring, which caused heavy tax losses to the state.
Violators are subject to imprisonment of three months to seven years and a fine of Bt2,000 to a maximum of Bt 200,000.
