Acting supreme patriarch Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn and Phra Khru Palad Sitthiwat, the abbot of Wat Phai Lom, will face charges of tax evasion concerning two vintage luxury cars allegedly in their possession.
The above findings regarding a Mercedes Benz vintage car allegedly belonging to the acting supreme patriarch and abbot of Wat Paknam Phasicharoen and a Panther vintage car allegedly belonging to Phra Khru Palad Sitthiwat were disclosed at a press conference by senior DSI officials led by the DSI chief, Pol Col Paisit Wongmuang.
The two vintage luxury cars were shipped into the country in the form of spare parts to avoid paying more import taxes and later reassembled.
Pol Colonel Paisit said that the engine of the Panther car which was imported from the US was falsely declared as a Jaguar engine. The car had changed hands 2-3 times before it was finally bought by Phra Khru Palad Sitthiwat or Luangphi Namfon from the owner of a Thai restaurant in the US.
He said that the car engine was imported from the US by the monk using his own name but the chasis was imported under the name of Mr Charin who is now being detained at Nakhon Pathom prison. But Narin claimed that his signature was fabricated.
Pol Lt-Col Korawat Panprapakorn, director of special cases of the DSI, said that import of fully-assembled used car was prohibited and, hence, the Panther car was imported in the form of parts to bypass the restriction and to dodge taxes.
As for the vintage Mercedes Benz bearing the name of the acting supreme patriarch or Somdet Chuang as its owner, Pol Col Paisit said the DSI had said before that false documents were used in the import and registration of the car.
He said that the actual selling price of the Mercedes was about four million baht but it was falsely declared at just 570,000 baht so that it was subjected to less import taxes.
The DSI chief said that the DSI had not notified Somdet Chuang of the charges against him yet.
