Oppo-Realme evade huge amount of tax

4-cos involved in fraudulent activities

Staff Correspondent: Four companies under the same ownership. The managing director of the four organizations is ‘one’. He again took the ‘work permit’ showing himself as ‘investor’ of one of the four institutions. The work permit shows the nominal salary in an establishment.
There is no account of how much money he took as salary from the remaining three institutions.
Basically, showed nominal salaries to evade taxes. Laundered the money taken from four institutions. Not only the managing director, but other foreign nationals of the four organizations have been doing the same. Not only this, the government has provided tax exemptions for importing parts and assembling them and marketing mobile phone sets. On the one hand, there will be employment in the country, on the other hand, factories will be built in the country. But that advantage is also being misused.
Parts are imported in the names of three of the four companies.
By adding those parts, a complete phone set is made. The price of the set is supposed to be lower due to the tax exemption. But the set made by combining the three institutions is supplied to another institution. And the mobile set is sold at a higher price than the price of the imported complete mobile set. On the one hand, the buyers are suffering financial loss, on the other hand, the government is not getting any revenue.
The government has given all the facilities for the construction of factories in Bangladesh. According to the rules, the factory will be run in compliance with all the laws including the labor laws of the country. But without paying attention to the labor laws of the country, they themselves have made laws, through which the workers are being harassed. There are also allegations of sexual harassment. All such terrible allegations have come up in intelligence reports against mobile phone brands ‘Oppo’ and ‘Realme’. The report made five recommendations including canceling the registration of four institutions.
According to NBR sources, the Special Branch (SB) of Bangladesh Police searched four companies of Oppo and Realme. The report is sent to the Secretary of the Security Services Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The report is sent to Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA). Recently, the report has been sent to the chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to take bid action.
According to the report, Oppo Bangladesh has four companies. The four companies are Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. (APO), Haguang Electronic Distribution Co., Daoseng Enterprise Development Co. and Benli Electronic Enterprise Co. Appo Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. started operations in Bangladesh in 2014. In 2019, i.e. five years after the start of operations, the name of the company was changed to ‘Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. Ltd’. The registration has been taken from the joint stock company in this name. The owner or chairman of the Chinese brand Oppo Mobile, Hun Jiangri (also known as Oppo Mobile), managing director YaHujian (Nar Aidharlanh) and Yan Zhen (Nadhham Taybah). According to sources, the managing director Yan Zhen is currently not in Bangladesh. Damon Ian is currently working as the Managing Director of Appo Bangladesh.
The review of the trade license of the organization showed that the trade license of two companies ‘Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. Ltd.’ and ‘Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. Ltd.’ has been taken in the name of Chairman Hun Jiangri. The business type mentioned in the trade license is ‘importer and supplier of mobile phones and accessories’. Besides, the address of Haguang Electronic Distribution Co. is given at 144, ConcordePolice Plaza, Tower-B, Floor-9, Gulshan-1, Dhaka. Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. also used the same address. Haguang Electronic Distribution Co., Ltd. is licensed under the name of Chinese national Ping Kang Zhunen. Yan Zhen works as the managing director of Haguang Electronic Distribution Co. as well as Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. Haguang Electronic Distribution was registered in the joint stock in 2021. What is the function of this organization and for what purpose the company was opened, it is not mentioned anywhere. But the brand of these two companies is ‘Oppo’. Two institutions are evading huge amount of revenue. Besides, the activities of two organizations are being run by showing the minimum salary in the name of any one organization. Owners and offices of the two organizations are the same.
Investigations have revealed that foreign nationals working in Oppo are evading taxes by giving false information. It is said that the Chinese citizen Wang Li working in the company, whose passport is No-U5E819066. He is working as a technician with work permit.
According to the work permit, his basic salary is Tk 72,250. But his actual title is Director Legal Affairs. In this position, a foreign national receives a salary and allowances of taka four to five lakhs in the same category. It is proved that the employees of the company worked illegally with false information and evaded a huge amount of tax. Again, Yan Zhen took a work permit as an ‘investor’. But he is working as the managing director of the organization. According to the work permit, his basic salary is shown as Tk 105,000. But his salary is Tk several lakhs. He showed minimum salary to evade taxes. Yan Zhen’s fraud did not end here. Yan Zhen is the managing director of Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. and Haguang Electronic Distribution Co. But he has taken work permit only in the name of Bangladesh Communication Equipment. Again, there is ambiguity about which of the two organizations he takes salary from.
According to the company, the address of Daoseng Enterprise Development is the same as the previous two companies. This company was registered as a joint stock company in 2019. The chairman of the company is Chinese citizen Liu Dahu. Realme is the mobile phone brand of Daoseng Enterprise Development Co.
The investigation showed that Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co. Ltd. (Oppo), Haguang Electronic Distribution Co. Ltd. and Daoseng Enterprise Development Co., Ltd. have the same ownership and office. The foreign nationals working in these three institutions are working in the other two institutions with the work permit of one institution. A huge amount of tax is being evaded.
On the other hand, the address of Benly Electronic Enterprise Co. is Plot-909, Chowdhury Complex, Bhagra, Gazipur Sadar, Gazipur. After reviewing the trade license of this company, it was found that the trade license of the company was taken in the name of the famous Yan Zhen. It mentions business types assmartphone assembly, distributor, importer and exporter. This company was also registered in joint stock in 2019. Yan Zhen is the managing director of this organization. That is, like the previous three companies, Yan Zhen is also the managing director of this company.
According to the investigation, the mobile sets of the previous three companies (Bangladesh Communication Equipment Co., Ltd. (Oppo), Haguang Electronic Distribution Co., Ltd. and Daoseng Enterprise Development Co., Ltd.) were merged into Benli Electronic Enterprise Co., Ltd. and supplied to the market under different brands. Additions are made by importing spare parts or parts from abroad. Like assembled sets or mobile phone parts, imported complete sets are being sold in the domestic market subject to levying duty. Common people are forced to buy mobile phone sets at high prices. But the government is not getting any revenue from it. Oppo and Realme are evading crores of taka revenue annually.
Apart from this, these four companies of Oppo and Realme do not care about the labor laws of Bangladesh. According to the report, the company has created its own fabricated ‘rules’ and ‘regulations’ by considering the interests of the workers, through which the workers are forced to apologize, do not give leave, do extra work without giving overtime, fire if they protest, etc. is doing.
A woman was working as Oppo’s public relations manager. She was dismissed for protesting against sexual harassment in the institution. Later she gave a legal notice to the organization explaining the incident. According to the report, these activities were carried out according to the rules prepared by Tian Mingui, a Chinese citizen working in the company.
According to the investigative report, the four institutions are owned by the same. In addition, Yan Zhen is the leader or managing director of four organizations. In Bangladesh, business is being conducted without regard to any business rules and prevailing labor policies. Besides, the foreign nationals working in these institutions have accepted ‘work permits’ as ‘technicians’ without using their real titles to evade income tax. Importing spare parts and converting them into mobile phone sets through additions are being freely sold in the domestic market at prices similar to those of imported complete mobile sets. Common consumers are affected and a huge amount of revenue is lost.
To prevent these irregularities of Oppo and Realme, the report has made five recommendations to take action against four institutions. The first of these is the deregistration of four Oppo companies. Secondly, the recruitment process of foreign nationals in the institutions, accepting work permit in one position and working in another position, salary and other matters according to the work permit, should be ensured by BIDA. Thirdly, make the necessary arrangements to cancel the visas of Yan Jin and Wang Li because they are involved in illegal activities. Fourthly, conducting raids or investigations by Bangladesh Bank on money laundering abroad through hundi by institutions. Fifthly, the NBR should take necessary measures to ensure that companies and foreign nationals working in companies do not evade income tax.
On the other hand, when contacted on the personal mobile phone number of Damon Ian, the current managing director of Oppo Bangladesh, he said (due to language problems) that their communication department will contact them. Masthead PR officer Kabir Hossain contacted this reporter on behalf of Damon Ian. Afsara Tasnim, another officer of Masthead, has been e-mailed in this regard on May 6 with the subject of the speech. But they did not get any reply as yet.