HC stays NBR decision to freeze Robi accounts

The High Court on Tuesday stayed the decision of the National Board of Revenue to freeze all the bank accounts of mobile phone operator Robi on charge of dodging VAT.

An HC bench of Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the mobile phone company, UNB reported.

Barrister Tanjib-ul Islam moved for Robi while Deputy Attorney General SM Moniruzzaman represented the state in the court.

Moniruzzaman said an appeal will be filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday against the HC stay order.

Earlier on Monday, the NBR directed all the commercial banks to freeze the bank accounts of Robi for the next three days saying the telecom operator evaded Tk 18.72 crore Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty.

The Large Taxpayers Unit under the Value Added Tax wing of the NBR sent letters to all the banks mentioning that the VAT on account of unpaid SD as per trial balance is worth Tk 10,35,26,095, while VAT on space and establishment rent is worth Tk 6,74, 83, 761, SD and VAT on less disclosed SIM (subscriber identity module) amounts to Tk 81, 06, 202 and unpaid VAT on inter-connection service charge of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) is Tk 81, 71, 974.