Former Asanzo Group chairman subject to legal proceedings for tax evasion

Pham Van Tam, chairman of Vietnamese electronics major Asanzo Group JSC, has been accused of using illegal invoices to evade taxes worth over VND15.7 billion ($616,800).

Ho Chi Minh City Police’s investigative agency on Sunday launched legal proceedings against Tam, 44, and Pham Xuan Tinh, the legal representative and director of Asanzo Group.

Asanzo is a Vietnamese company that manufactures and trades in electronic products and electrical appliances.

The initial investigation found that Tam directed Tinh to sign principle contracts with Viet Tai Trading Investment Company, An Thien Production Investment Company, and Tran Thoai Import-export Investment Company, but did not issue sales invoices.

In addition, Tam used illegal invoices for Asanzo’s goods and input materials to evade paying more than VND15.7 billion ($616,800) in taxes.

HCMC Police are investigating the case further.

Asanzo has a history of tax debt. In December 2022, HCMC Customs stopped processing customs procedures for Asanzo Group's imports and exports as the company owed VND47 billion ($1.85 million) in taxes that were more than 90 days overdue.

In December 2020, the company appeared on a list of tax debtors for Q2/2020 compiled by the HCMC Tax Department. The tax debt was nearly VND40 billion ($1.57 million). At the same time, its subsidiary Asanzo Investment Joint Stock Company had due tax debt of nearly VND6 billion.

Asanzo was established at end-2013 with a $20 million factory in HCMC, with chairman Pham Van Tam holding a 90% stake.

In 2020, Asanzo was alleged to have committed violations related to the origin of its products. The Ministry of Public Security’s investigative agency (C03) looked into the case, but determined that there was no evidence showing that Asanzo benefited from selling goods of Chinese origin masquerading as goods of Vietnamese origin in the domestic market.

“Therefore, there was no basis to determine that Asanzo Group deceived customers,” the investigators stated.

In September 2020, Tam attracted public attention by founding Winsan Group Investment Joint Stock Company and becoming its CEO. The company had a charter capital of VND300 billion ($11.79 million) and operates in the field of financial investment.

At the end of 2021, Asanzo announced an investment of VND2,000 billion ($78.57 million) to raise cows and make organic fertilizers.