The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday raided 13 importers’ warehouses on suspicion of tax evasion and fraud involving the import and sale of alcohol.
Prosecutors and police raided warehouses in Taoyuan, New Taipei City, Taichung, Hsinchu, Changhua and Kaohsiung after a tip-off that imports of edible alcohol — that had been declared as undenatured alcohol for industrial use only — was sold to distilleries to make spirits, which were allegedly promoted as naturally brewed.
Authorities seized 53,144 bottles of spirits and wine, and 125 tonnes of unknown alcoholic products, prosecutors said.
The prosecutors’ office on Friday summoned 15 people for questioning. Eight suspects were arrested and later released on bail, prosecutors said
Two suspects said that they had been importing undenatured alcohol since February last year, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said.
However, prosecutors said the alcohol was food-grade.
The importers are accused of importing about 450,000 liters of edible alcohol declared as undenatured to evade the 20 percent tax on drinkable alcohol and NT$15 per liter tobacco and alcohol tax, authorities said.
The import tariff on industrial alcohol is 3 percent, prosecutors said.
Undenatured alcohol has methanol or acetone added to make it undrinkable.
Investigators said that the imported alcohol was sold to distilleries making kaoliang (sorghum liquor), rice wine and whiskey, which blended artificial flavorsand sweeteners with the alcohol and marketed the products as naturally distilled.
Upstream companies are being investigated for tax evasion, while downstream businesses are to be investigated for fraud, Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office Deputy Chief Prosecutor Wang Chi-ming (王啟明) said.
Although the seized products were produced with edible alcohol, the way they were made might have harmed the quality, prosecutors said.
Tests are to determine whether the products are harmful to human health, police said.
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