The General Department of Customs has revealed tax evasion andsmuggling of titanium ore by the Binh Thuan Trade and Mineral InvestmentJoint Stock Company (KSBT).

The company's tax evasion andsmuggling of thousands of tonnes of titanium ore were uncovered by theLao Dong (Labour) newspaper after its investigation in July and Novemberlast year.

During the investigation, some 40 customsclearance documents reportedly showed evidence of tax evasion andillegal exports by this company.

To Bai Tich, general director of the KSBT, said all his company contracts were signed via fax.

However, 37 out of the 39 contracts to sell titanium ore between 2009and 2012 did not have the specific account numbers of the buyers.

They were mostly Chinese companies.

According to the Vietnam Immigration Department of the Ministry ofPublic Security, many contracts were signed and sealed when the directorhad gone abroad on business.

However, the director told the authorities that all the contracts had been signed and sealed in his office in Vietnam .

The Anti-smuggling Department of Chinese Customs informed theVietnamese authorities that 10 Chinese companies, which often boughttitanium ore from the KSBT, were registered with the Chinese Customs.

But the names of seven out of these 10 companies did not match with the ones registered with the Chinese Customs.

They are actually bogus companies, Vietnam Customs reported.

The KSTB made illegal trading contracts lawful through commercial banks.

Some contracts were signed without invoices.

This means that a large volume of titanium ore was out of the Vietnam authority's control.

The case files had been transferred to the investigating agency under the Ministry of Public Security.-VNA