Customs: Tax on Chalerm's Rolls fully paid

Customs: Tax on Chalerm's Rolls fully paid

The Rolls-Royce used by Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung was legitimately imported, Customs Department deputy director-general Rakhop Srisupha-at said on Monday.

Mr Rakhop said Customs Department records show that Mr Chalerm's Bangkok-registered Rolls-Royce Ghost, with the licence plate number Por Or (พอ) 444, was imported in 2010. 

The tax on the vehicle was correctly paid, he said.

Nanthapong Cherdchu, director of the Bangkok Land Transport Office Area 5, said Mr Chalerm's car does not include parts reassembled in Thailand to avoid taxes. 

Mr Nanthapong said the car also has a certificate of importation from the Customs Department.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung's Rolls-Royce Ghost (Facebook photo)

Earlier today, former senator Ruangkrai Leekijwattana filed a petition with the Department of Special Investigation asking it to probe whether the tax on the Rolls-Royce used by Mr Chalerm had been paid in full.

Mr Ruangkrai alleged that Mr Chalerm said he had bought the car for 26 million baht. But Mr Ruangkrai argued that the car would have cost up to 37 million baht if the tax on it had been paid in full.

Moreover, Mr Chalerm had not included the car in his declaration of assets and liabilities submitted to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), Mr Ruangkrai said. 

DSI chief Tarit Pengdith said he would check the documents of the car as requested. The results will be known by Tuesday, he added.

Mr Chalerm said he would be happy to let the DSI look into whether the proper tax payments had been made on the car.

The deputy premier said the car did not actually belong to him, but to a partner in a company run by his son, Pol-Capt Duang Yubamrung, a Metropolitan Police Bureau training centre officer.

His son, who had left the car in his care, confirmed it was an imported vehicle for which customs duty had been legally paid, Mr Chalerm said.

He said he was considering consulting his lawyer on whether he should file a defamation lawsuit against Mr Ruangkrai.

A separate news report quoted Mr Chalerm as saying the Rolls belonged to a Singaporean businessman who owned many luxury cars, and he had left it in his son Duang's care.

Last month, a fire destroyed four luxury cars on a transporter in Nakhon Ratchasima, and they were found to be among the thousands of imported cars declared as parts in a tax avoidance scheme, according to the DSI.

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