Testimony of former Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Phu Quy Gold Company

The Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency has just completed its investigation conclusion, proposing to prosecute 25 defendants in the smuggling and tax evasion case that occurred at Lao Bao border gate (Quang Tri), Phu Quy Gold and Silver Company and related units.

In this case, Mr. Le Xuan Tung (former Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Phu Quy Gold Company) and Ms. Le Thuy Quynh (former Chief Accountant of Phu Quy Gold Investment Company) were proposed to be prosecuted for tax evasion.

Investigation results and document collection at the Hanoi Tax Department show that in 2021, Phu Quy Gold Company had sales revenue of more than 1,860 billion VND, purchase revenue of more than 1,815 billion VND, paid value added tax (VAT) of more than 4 billion VND, profit before corporate income tax (CIT) of more than 31 billion VND, and paid CIT of more than 6 billion VND.

The results of extracting data from ERP and Jewelry software show that in 2021, Phu Quy Gold Company had sales revenue of more than 3,951 billion VND, purchase revenue of more than 3,884 billion VND, VAT payable of more than 6.7 billion VND, profit before corporate income tax of more than 50 billion VND, and corporate income tax payable of more than 10 billion VND.

The Hanoi Tax Department's assessor concluded that Phu Quy Gold Company sold goods without issuing invoices and did not record in the accounting books the revenues related to determining the amount of tax payable, which is a violation of the Law on Tax Administration.

In addition, Phu Quy Gold Company made dishonest declarations, sold goods without issuing invoices, did not declare VAT on goods sold, causing a loss to the State Budget in 2021 of more than 2 billion VND; left revenue and expenses off the accounting books when calculating accounting to determine corporate income tax, causing a loss to the State Budget of more than 3.9 billion VND. The amount of tax loss to the State Budget is more than 6 billion VND.

At the investigation agency, defendant Le Xuan Tung, former Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Phu Quy Gold Company, admitted his wrongdoings and gave a statement consistent with the course of his crime.

Mr. Tung stated that the gold buying and selling activities of Phu Quy Gold Company have 3 sources: SJC gold, Phu Quy gold, and gold purchased from organizations and individuals. In particular, individual customers often transact in cash and do not issue invoices or documents.

Therefore, Mr. Tung directed others to record on Misa accounting software for transactions with invoices and documents, leading to incorrect declaration of VAT on goods, revenue, and determination of corporate income tax payable.

After the chief accountant reported that there were large differences in data on the two software in 2022 and 2023, Mr. Tung directed the chief accountant to adjust the data to match so as not to affect production and business activities.

At the investigation agency, Ms. Le Thuy Quynh, former Chief Accountant of Phu Quy Gold Company, admitted that she was directed by Mr. Le Xuan Tung to balance data, reduce revenue data recorded on ERP software, Jewelry software to Excel files and balance data, reduce gold buying and selling transactions, prioritize transactions with payment through accounts, retail customers with invoices.

Phu Quy Gold Company's accountant, Ms. Bui Thi Thuy Linh, also testified that, under the direction of Mr. Tung, Ms. Quynh, and Ms. Linh, she was able to access the ERP and Jewelry software to monitor the purchase and sale transactions of all types of gold of Phu Quy Gold Company.

After that, Ms. Quynh was the one who chose to export the data file related to the purchase and sale transactions on ERP, Jewelry software into an excel file, performed checks, adjusted accounting data, reduced transactions and reduced transaction amounts so that the revenue was lower than the actual data on ERP, Jewelry software.

After completing the above edits, Ms. Quynh transferred the edited data file to Ms. Linh to update into Misa accounting software, and at the same time directed Ms. Linh to issue electronic sales invoices.