[abhijeetsng]

The CBI has said that the imported cars scam unearthed in Chennai may perhaps be the biggest of its kind in India. The scam, in which, the CBI says that officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) were also involved, reportedly caused a loss of Rs 50 crore to the government exchequer.

The CBI seized 33 cars on Friday in raids across the city and the state. The CBI raided the residences of several DRI officials and car importer Alex Joseph, who has evaded arrest.

Source & Full Article: IBN Live

[Achyuth Vaibhav]

Very sad that they have gone to the CBI yard. Will have to throw that Alex into the jail for 20 years. It's very sad that we have no cars to post at the Chennai thread. Hope the CBI guys take the right action and release all the imported cars + ask taxes from the owners of those cars.

Cheers,

Achyuth

[hillram]

I read about all this scam in today's newspaper. Its really sad that these cars will just pile up dust and will be savaged.

[Maky]

Originally Posted by hillram

I read about all this scam in today's newspaper. Its really sad that these cars will just pile up dust and will be savaged.

It's mentioned these were obtained illegally by their owners, Hence rightfully so.

Originally Posted by Achyuth Vaibhav

Very sad that they have gone to the CBI yard. Will have to throw that Alex into the jail for 20 years. It's very sad that we have no cars to post at the Chennai thread. Hope the CBI guys take the right action and release all the imported cars + ask taxes from the owners of those cars.

Cheers,

Achyuth

As it states in the article on the linked site "The purchasers knew the vehicles were imported wrongfully" so no I would not give them the luxury of keeping their cars. Take the cars back and penalise them further.
I wouldn't personally advocate breaking the law, not that you are, just so I can see a few pretty cars on my roads once in a blue moon : ).

[316kmph]

Originally Posted by hillram

I read about all this scam in today's newspaper. Its really sad that these cars will just pile up dust and will be savaged.

Will they gather dust and eventually be wasted?

That depends on what's the car's resale value, tax, penalty and interest liability to the customs department, subsequent cascading impact on VAT, road tax and insurance cost.

The only thing going in the favor of these cars is effective import duty has increased from approximately 110% in 2011-12 to about 127% in 2012-13 to nearly 168% now, making these cars more expensive to import as new cars now. However, the tax liability (I am guessing) would be, dated to the day of import and would attract a penalty and a high rate of interest for tax delays.

The resale value of these cars if higher than the sum of all liabilities listed above then they wouldn't gather dust. Plus there are possible matters of pride or ego that could also contribute to the issue.

P.S. the effective import duties are hear say numbers and may not be accurate, experts can chip in with accurate figures.

[stanjohn123]

I don't think its right to say that owners should be punished for buying such car's irrespective of their knowledge on how it was imported.

Many of the owners here whose vehicles have been seized are people with reputable businesses or institutions.I'm sure they can all afford to pay the difference in tax's and settle it.

From my point of view I agree with what another person has mentioned in this thread that the government has to stop targeting or tryinıg to mint money from us the customers. Tax's have increased to 170% for importing cars , roads are on a much worse situation now than before.

The government is literally doing nothing for us except taxing us heavily for buying beautiful cars. We are not even being compensated for damages done to our cars due to the poor state of roads.

There are very few super / luxury car's down south. I just hope that these raids don't result in these cars being dumped and rusted on cbi premises( which in my view is the most disgraceful way to perish ).

I'd rather see R8's , hummers , Lamborghini's etc than ambassador's on our roads due to the foolish tax structure on vehicle's. A beautiful country like ours deserves beautiful cars.

[rock75]

They should be auctioned off to fetch the evaded tax and penalty!

[flipsyde]

Originally Posted by rock75

They should be auctioned off to fetch the evaded tax and penalty!

Exactly! Why should they rot away in some yard? Who does that benefit?

[scuderiamania]

Originally Posted by stanjohn123

I don't think its right to say that owners should be punished for buying such car's irrespective of their knowledge on how it was imported.

Many of the owners here whose vehicles have been seized are people with reputable businesses or institutions.I'm sure they can all afford to pay the difference in tax's and settle it.

From my point of view I agree with what another person has mentioned in this thread that the government has to stop targeting or tryinıg to mint money from us the customers. Tax's have increased to 170% for importing cars , roads are on a much worse situation now than before.

The government is literally doing nothing for us except taxing us heavily for buying beautiful cars. We are not even being compensated for damages done to our cars due to the poor state of roads.

There are very few super / luxury car's down south. I just hope that these raids don't result in these cars being dumped and rusted on cbi premises( which in my view is the most disgraceful way to perish ).

I'd rather see R8's , hummers , Lamborghini's etc than ambassador's on our roads due to the foolish tax structure on vehicle's. A beautiful country like ours deserves beautiful cars.

I am sorry but I completely disagree with most of your views.
Firstly, a person, more often than not, will evade taxes just because he doesn't want to cough up the extra money. Not because he can't afford it. As it is, these are luxury items, and not items of importance by any stretch of the imagination. If one cannot afford the taxes, then one shouldn't buy the car!

Secondly, how is collecting of import duty on luxury cars a wrong thing to do. Every country has it. USA, UK, Singapore, you name it. If you are referring to how high the taxes are then I have to point out India fairs much better in this respect compared to its south-eastern couterparts. If I remeber correctly, Singapore has a gross rate of 400% import duty on cars! Ours is a nation where the manufacturing sector still needs to be protected. So import duty on cars has to be a part of the tax regime. And to ask the govt to drop this issue just so that we can see a few beautiful cars on the road is, IMO, ridiculous.

Sorry if I have hurt your sentiments but the above is my honest opinion. One may not like a certain law prevailing in the country. But that cannot be an excuse for avoiding it!

[phamilyman]

I would really love to see what all of you would post in an order gadget from abroad thread. 99.999% of us hope that duty doesnt apply or that a lenient interpretation is applied - when it comes to OUR cases. Here, for vehicles costing crores, many of you're not advocating penalties but seizure, which will simply result in destruction of these beauties and pollution of the environment (besides lost revenue for the government). Well done!

[Achyuth Vaibhav]

If government does not take the necessary actions, It will lose a whole tally of 500 crores. So far 33 cars have been impounded. This says that CBI are taking this case very seriously.

Here's the list:

R.Venkatachalam (Chancellor of Ramachandra medical College ):An S500,Lamborghini, and a Lexus. Totally seven cars.
MGM group of industries: A Bentley. Totally two cars.
G.K Shetty Ramana: 5 imported cars including a Benz,Hummer and Lexus.
Raja Sankar: Two cars including a Hummer.
India Cements:11 cars including a Bentley,Benz,Lamborghini,Mserati and a Toyota.
Udhayanidhi Stalin's Hummer has evaded the capture.

Source: Times Of India Sunday Edition.

Cheers,

Achyuth

[Ford5]

What a farce. CBI interested only in madras exotics while all tax evading businessmen/babu's across metro cities evade this?

CBI should also start raiding I.T dept/excise dept etc etc who full time collude with tax evaders and probably they can recover more than the 600 odd crores being spoken of.

[Unknownsatan]

OT: We all evade tax in one way or the other. People who are working are giving some or the other proofs to evade IT or atleast to reduce tax cut. So why not rich people? Just cos they have money doesnt mean they have to pay as well.

If we are getting enough facilities from govt, then its a different scene, so please dont compare with US, Singapore etc. If not anything else, see the condition of road itself and compare.

[stanjohn123]

Originally Posted by scuderiamania

I am sorry but I completely disagree with most of your views.
Firstly, a person, more often than not, will evade taxes just because he doesn't want to cough up the extra money. Not because he can't afford it. As it is, these are luxury items, and not items of importance by any stretch of the imagination. If one cannot afford the taxes, then one shouldn't buy the car!

Secondly, how is collecting of import duty on luxury cars a wrong thing to do. Every country has it. USA, UK, Singapore, you name it. If you are referring to how high the taxes are then I have to point out India fairs much better in this respect compared to its south-eastern couterparts. If I remeber correctly, Singapore has a gross rate of 400% import duty on cars! Ours is a nation where the manufacturing sector still needs to be protected. So import duty on cars has to be a part of the tax regime. And to ask the govt to drop this issue just so that we can see a few beautiful cars on the road is, IMO, ridiculous.

Sorry if I have hurt your sentiments but the above is my honest opinion. One may not like a certain law prevailing in the country. But that cannot be an excuse for avoiding it!

No sentiments hurt but nice to know your point of view as well. One thing we can never compare our tax structure with that of US or Singapore. These countries provide way better infrastructure and facilities for their citizens.

Even in countries like UK citizens get compensated for vehicles damaged due to pot holes. Also our government keeping these import duties to protect local manufacturing is ridiculous because our local companies have grown a lot already.tata have bought land rover , mahindra planning to buy Aston Martin , is our government planning to protect such companies who can stand on their own now ?


Secondly owners of super cars and other expensive cars get no benefit for spending the extra moolah on import or road tax. We do not even have an agency like NAHSTA to look into vehicles proper road worth or whether it needs to be recalled.

Also why the CBI is targeting Chennai is unknown, if this crackdown happens in rest of India they will surely un earth many crores but
God forbid as it would only lead to the sad demise of these vehicles.

I am totally against these raids as it seems like a personal vendetta when the government hasn't done much for what it has got.

[Yeldo]

While evading taxes is by no means what a responsible citizen should do, and the rates of taxation on a particular item cannot indeed be compared with the rates applicable for it elsewhere, say UAE, a democracy should not resort to unjust or exploitative taxation of any item or a group of people without them being allowed proportionate benefits of the tax thus levied, and in no way the state is supposed to squander or misappropriate the moneys collected as tax.

Taxes on motor vehicles and fuel has been rising exponentially over the past few years; but ironically, we now have to shell out heavy tolls if we want to travel on the very few good roads that are being built with that money. Worse still, the tax increments in our country are not aimed at lowering the rate of growth in vehicle population, as in the case of Singapore, but just a means to raise extra money to pour it down the drain to the bottomless pit of vanity- driven pseudo -welfare schemes prone to scam.

That said, if I have a problem with the tax, I should not buy a car and thus spare myself of the unjust & exploitative tax (as I would believe), and NOT COMMIT TAX FRAUD.

And, many of the names that figure in the lists are not known to be exactly fitting the profile of law abiding citizens with pristine records!