Kathmandu. Director General of the Department of Revenue Investigation Chandi Prasad Ghimire has made an environment for the state to lose billions of rupees by signing an agreement with electric vehicle traders before going on retirement.
Director General Ghimire, who has only two months left in his tenure, has made the investigation effective against the businessmen who have evaded billions of taxes on the motor capacity of electric vehicles and put the state on the path of billions of losses.
Director General Ghimire has not only harmed the state by stopping the investigation process initiated by the previous Director General Chakra Bahadur Budha, but has also ignored the directives of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli of the powerful government with two-thirds majority.
A team deputed by the Department of Revenue Investigation had raided the central office of Cymex Inc. which sells ‘Build Your Dream’ (BYD) brand electric vehicles in Nepal. The team seized important documents of tax evasion from the company. The then Director General of the Department, Chakra Bahadur Budha, had initiated the investigation saying that the tax evaded by BYD would be recovered anyway.
However, director general Budha was transferred after KP Sharma Oli came to the post of Prime Minister. After this, Prime Minister Oli appointed Chandi Ghimire as the Director General on August 1, 2018. Ghimire, who was given the responsibility in August, had gone to brief Prime Minister Oli in September 2081, alleging huge tax evasion on EV vehicles.
After hearing about tax evasion on EV vehicles, Prime Minister Oli directed to collect tax by bringing a measuring machine from anywhere in the world, said an employee who attended the briefing. “We have given a clear briefing to the Prime Minister on the issue of tax evasion on EV vehicles,” the employee told Singha Durbar. ”
Eight months have passed since receiving the Prime Minister’s directive, but the Department has not taken any action on the issue of tax evasion. According to department sources, Director General Ghimire had submitted an account to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat while investigating the tax evasion in EV vehicles. According to sources in the department, he has sought permission from the secretariat to become aggressive as he will retire in some time.
After briefing the Prime Minister, Director General Ghimire has already transferred the employees who went to raid Symex Inc. After this, he verbally instructed the employees not to proceed with any investigation, the sources claimed. According to department sources, Director General Ghimire held secret talks with some EV traders. After the talks, he transferred the employees involved in the investigation.
At present, director general Ghimire is afraid to work with good employees. Some time ago, an under-secretary of revenue was transferred to the department. However, he had cancelled the transfer, saying Director General Ghimire was ambitious and he could not work together. Employees of bad conduct are transferred to the department and are struggling to get jobs.
After Ghimire took over the leadership of the department, it was expected that important work would be done on revenue leakage. But he has not been able to do any important research to prevent revenue leakage. According to sources, the employees have also stopped harassing him saying that the job will end in a short time.
A former director general of the Department said that the revenue investigation should give a clean chit to find out whether the mistake was found after the raid or if the investigation should be carried out. The former director general said, “The employees have made this department only a weapon of poverty alleviation, if nothing is found, the work started only in a messy style, the case of BYD is an example. After such raids, the department should give a clean chit to find out whether it was found or else the investigation should proceed. ”
The Office of the Auditor General has said that tax evasion of Rs 5 billion has been done on EV vehicles in a single year. However, regulatory bodies have been indifferent to tax collection.
BYD has evaded tax
Byd’s Atto-3 model, sold by Symex Inc,was previously imported for 150 kW. With the increase in taxes by the government, BYD has imported 99 kg by making fake documents. Chinese automaker BYD did not manufacture any vehicle with a capacity of 99 kW at that time.
However, Cymex Inc. is importing the vehicle for 99 kW. The features of the 99 kW and 150 kW vehicles, the luxury torque capacity are all the same, but only the documentation of kW is different. A 99 kW vehicle and a 150 kW vehicle have been declared customs duty at the same price. In recent times, customs checks have been passed by reducing the price.
Similarly, the investigation team of the then Revenue Investigation Department had said that the company had evaded taxes on other models of vehicles as well. Customs officials have confirmed that they have only produced the documents at the request of the traders while talking informally to the Chinese customs.
However, the finance ministry has stopped collecting taxes in connivance with high-level ministers and employees. Dhundi Prasad Niraula, former director general of the Department of Customs, had written a letter to the subordinate offices on May 1, 2018, to recover the tax evasion on EV vehicles. However, finance minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel transferred him as soon as he wrote the letter. ।
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