Five held over alleged luxury car import fraud
Luxury cars imported from UK included HK$4m Bentley and two Porsches
A well-known car salesman was among five people arrested yesterday on suspicion of using forged documents to avoid paying about HK$2.2 million in registration tax on three imported luxury cars.
Veteran luxury European car salesman Henry Leung Kam-tong, 66, is a director of one of the companies raided by police and customs officers in Kowloon City and Tsuen Wan.
Leung, a former customer relations manager with Bentley Hong Kong, is known for his long experience in the sector and high-profile deals with tycoons and celebrities in the city.
The five were arrested on suspicion of using forged documents to avoid paying about HK$2.2 million in registration tax on three imported luxury cars.
The vehicles, imported from the UK in February, included a Bentley with an estimated market value of HK$4 million. The two other cars were Porsches.
The suspects were accused of reducing tax liability on the cars by depressing the import price.
"An initial investigation showed they also tried to claim depreciation allowance by exaggerating the period of vehicle registration," Grace Tang Wai-ngan, assistant staff officer of Customs' vehicle valuation group, said.
She said it was the first fraud case over the first-registration tax. The first-registration tax is derived from the taxable value of a vehicle multiplied by a tax rate ranging from 40 per cent to 115 per cent.
Cars imported for personal use are given a depreciation allowance of 25 per cent per annum.
"After claiming the depreciation allowance, the importer [of the Bentley] could pay HK$1.2 million less in first registration tax," one source said.
