Who is the owner?
Luxury car found abandoned on street along with a 'letter of surrender'
A tax defaulter left a luxurious Porsche sport utility vehicle in the capital's Hatirjheel with an anonymous letter yesterday.
“The car is very dear to me and I am attached to it. I have been using this car for the last few years. I recently came to know that tax for the car was evaded … I have left this car on my own accord … please don't look for me,” read the letter addressed to the director general of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID).
“Although it was wrong of me to dodge taxes for my favourite car, I have done penance by submitting it," it read.
CIID officials who took the 2005 Porsche Cayenne yesterday morning said they would be looking for the person and take legal steps.
Had all the taxes for the 12-year-old crossover been paid, it would have cost almost Tk 4 crore, claimed CIID Deputy Director HM Shariful Hassan.
"I am a respected person of the society. Many people know me by my name. Concerned about my reputation I have willingly left the car," the letter, found inside the vehicle, said.
The letter also commended CIID for its "raids across the country".
The German vehicle was brought from the UK in 2010 under the Carnet de Passages which let foreigners bring in their vehicles without having to pay customs duties for two months to one year.
After expiry of the specified time, the owners must send their vehicles back to their respective countries, Shariful said, adding that Bangladesh stopped issuing Carnet permissions in 2014.
The officers have come to know that the Porsche was brought to the country by UK citizen of Bangladesh origin Farida Rashid. Before leaving the country, she might have sold it to someone, they speculated.
The person using the unregistered vehicle may have abandoned it fearing the ongoing drives against such vehicles, Shariful said.
He added that CIID officials were tipped that a luxury vehicle would be left at Hatirjheel yesterday and they found it in the morning.
Another tax defaulter on April 20 last year left a 2007 Lexus near CIID office in Sylhet with an anonymous letter. Officials speculated that the owner was unable to pay the taxes which had piled up over the years.
The CIID have so far seized about 60 vehicles for tax evasions.
Cases filed in connection with 10 of those vehicles were disposed of. The rest are in CIID's custody as the cases were under trial, said its Director General Moinul Khan.