Huge illegal liquor seized from Lakeshore Hotel

The Value Added Tax (VAT) intelligence department of the National Board of Revenue in a drive has recovered a huge quantity of illegal liquor from Lakeshore Hotel in the capital's Gulshan area.  

The hotel authorities failed to show any valid documents against 349 bottles of foreign liquor seized from its bar during the drive on Tuesday.

Moreover, the VAT intelligence team collected information on a huge amount of VAT evasion by the hotel.

The information revealed that Lakeshore has collected VAT from the clients but did not deposit the money in the government treasury.

Lakeshore has also refrained from filing any VAT returns since January 2020. It has not paid any VAT in the last 10 months, according to the VAT intelligence department.

However, according to the law, the return of each month has to be submitted by 15 days of the next month.

It will be possible to know the total amount of VAT evasion after verifying the collected information, VAT detectives said adding that further investigation will be carried out and necessary actions will be taken in accordance with the VAT Act and other laws.

Nazmunnahar Kaiser, deputy director of the VAT intelligence department, led the drive while a team of the Rapid Action Battalion assisted the VAT intelligence team.