During the press conference on the evening of March 2, Lieutenant General To An Xo – the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security provided additional information about the recent case involving Phuc Son Group, which was indicted at the end of February.
Lieutenant General To An Xo stated that Phuc Son Group Joint Stock Company has been operating since 2004, with a moderate scale, and is active in the construction industry at the district level. Since 2015, the company has grown significantly, undertaking numerous projects from the north to the south of the country. The company is involved in 21 projects, with a total investment exceeding VND 40 trillion.
The initial investigation looked into two projects in Vinh Phuc province and found that Phuc Son Group Joint Stock Company had engaged in off-the-books transactions, failing to declare its financial status and evading taxes, resulting in over VND 640 billion in damage to the state budget.
However, the latest tax arrears announcement in February 2024 from the Vinh Phuc Provincial Department of Taxation does not list Phuc Son Group as one of the largest tax debtors.
In October 2016, the Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee revoked more than 62.3 hectares of land at Nha Trang airport from Phuc Son Group Joint Stock Company (Phuc Son Company), which is chaired by Mr. Nguyen Van Hau, to implement the urban, service, financial, and tourism center project in Nha Trang. Photo: Xuan Ngoc
|
Among the listed companies, Vĩnh Yên Real Estate Development Limited Company has the largest tax debt, exceeding VND 48 billion. The second is Vinh Phuc Investment and Textile Joint Stock Company, with a tax debt of over VND 25 billion. Vinh Phuc Real Estate Development and Business Joint Stock Company owes more than VND 17.4 billion, and Ba Hien Joint Stock Company owes more than VND 17.08 billion…
Thus, it is possible that off-the-books transactions and failure to declare financial status are some of the reasons why Phuc Son Group does not have tax debt in Vinh Phuc province.
According to our research, the mentioned tax debt amounts to “tens of trillions” in relation to the VND 12,000 billion financial obligation of Phuc Son Group in the construction of the Urban, Commercial, Financial, and Tourism Center project in the former Nha Trang airport site.
Earlier, in August 2022, the Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee issued a document requesting Phuc Son Group to expeditiously pay nearly VND 12,000 billion to fulfill its financial obligation in the Urban, Commercial, Financial, and Tourism Center project in Nha Trang. However, the company believes that this document does not comply with the current legal provisions, as fulfilling the financial obligation requires a valuation of the land and the principle of equal price for BT projects, as well as notifications from the tax authority.
During the press conference on March 2, Mr. To An Xo stated that this incident demonstrates the lack of responsibility of the management in controlling the financial reporting activities of Phuc Son Group Joint Stock Company.
“This company is lacking inspection and supervision from professional agencies. It does not fulfill its tax obligations but continues to operate,” he added.
Luong Bang
