Point out signs of origin fraud, consumer deception and tax evasion of Asanzo

	Signs of violations identified at Asanzo
	General Department of Vietnam Customs: Asanzo Company showed signs of tax evasion
	Asanzo violated tax with many aggravating circumstances

Director General Nguyen Van Can chairs an interdisciplinary meeting on the morning of October 28. Photo: T. Binh.

Goods labeled “Made in Vietnam” despite of lack of C / O

On the morning of October 28, under the authorisation of Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the 389 National Steering Committee, Director General of Customs Nguyen Van Can chaired a meeting with representatives of ministries and competent agencies to finalise the report to Standing Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, Head of the 389 National Steering Committee on the case of Asanzo Group Joint Stock Company.

Nguyen Van Can said that under the directions of the Prime Minister, the Head of the 389 National Steering Committee and Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung, the General Department of Customs and other agencies have investigated and discovered many signs of violations related to Asanzo Joint Stock Company.

Notably, regarding the signs of origin fraud, the inspection results of the Customs force showed that Asanzo Electronic Technology Investment Joint Stock Company opened three export declarations of 661 televisions with Asanzo trademark to Japan and accessories such as a wall bracket, remote control and declared these goods as Vietnamese origin

However, 98 percent of the value of TV products exported to Japan, came from components imported from China (bought by the company from many partners), only about 2 percent of the value came from domestic assembly process.

According to Decree 31/2018 / ND-CP, the exported TV products branded Asanzo mentioned above do not meet the criteria of Vietnamese origin

Speaking more about the TV assembly process of Asanzo, Can said: “The assembly line has only 12 rows of tables with a length of about 30m, a width of 1.5m (area of 45m2). Each table can fit one 50-inch TV, one test room for circuit board with eight computers and eight employees. The assembly is done manually by installing components other than installing main configuration”

Remarkably, this "line" is used by the company for assembling both televisions and air conditioners. In particular, the complete assembly of a television takes about 25 minutes with 12 main workers and 30 assistants

Most representatives of the ministries and agencies agreed with the General Department of Customs' report. Photo: T. Binh.

At the meeting, the representative of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that VCCI has not received Asanzo's application for origin and has not issued a certificate of origin to Asanzo.

The representative of Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said based on the results of inspection and investigation by the General Department of Customs reported at the meeting, it is clear that Asanzo has violated regulations on processing and simple processing, so the goods can be considered as not having Vietnamese origin upon export.

Police agency to quickly give the conclusion on investigations on tax evasion

Regarding the signs of tax evasion of Asanzo, according to a report of the General Department of Taxation, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation inspected and handled more than VND 47.6 billion for the this company.

In particular, tax arrears were more than VND 40.5 billion, the late payment fine was more than VND 1.6 billion, the administrative fines was more than VND 5.3 billion.

Of the above VND 47.6 billion, more than VND 13 billion was revenue from value added tax and special consumption tax.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation issued a document to transfer criminal case records to the Investigation Police Agency (Ho Chi Minh City Public Security) for criminal settlement.

Concerning the above case, Can proposed the Police agency and the Supreme People's Procuracy soon investigate, clarify and conclude with the spirit of not causing wrongdoing, affecting businesses but also strictly handling violations.

Asanzo once held a press conference to whitewash itself, but until now, the authorities have pointed out many signs of its violations. Photo: T. Binh.

At the meeting, Deputy General Director Mai Xuan Thanh stated a report on the results of verification and investigation of the case related to Asanzo conducted by the Customs and other competent forces to consult ministries and agencies before finalising the report to submit to Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh.

According to the report, in addition to the signs of origin fraud and tax evasion mentioned above, ministries and authorities also clearly indicated signs of violations of this company related to infringement of industrial property rights and labels.

For consumer deception with the slogan "pinnacle of Japanese technology", Asanzo Group Joint Stock Company said the enterprise signed a digital service contract No. TA-AS24/2017 dated 24 January 2017 with Sharp-Roxy (Hong Hong) in Vietnam to be provided with software and technology.

However, at the meeting, the representative of the National Office of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology) said that up to now, Asanzo has not had sufficient grounds to be granted a technology transfer certificate (from Sharp Japan).

The representative of Sharp Group in Vietnam also confirmed that the corporation ended the joint venture with Roxy Electronics Company (Hong Kong). On October 31, 2016 the registration to change the company's name from Sharp-Roxy (Hong Kong) to Sharp Hong Kong Co., Ltd. was finished.

Thus, the company from Sharp-Roxy has stopped its operation since October 2016, but Asanzo still informed that the contract with this company on January 24, 2017 being false.

The representative of Sharp Group in Vietnam has also sent an application to the Ministry of Public Security accusing the Asanzo Group Joint Stock Company of "acts of counterfeiting seals and documents and using fake seals and documents”.

Deputy General Director Mai Xuan Thanh said through the verification of the Customs office with foreign partners, the results were exactly as stated by Sharp Group