Fire at Dhamrai battery factory accused of Tk 3.28 crore VAT evasion, one Chinese citizen injured

A fire broke out at the factory of Jinlian Electronics Technology Bangladesh Limited in Dhamrai, Dhaka. The fire started at around 10:30pm on Sunday (25 October) at the factory in the Nabagram area of Kushura union in the upazila.

According to Dhamrai Fire Service Station, two fire service units left for the scene after receiving news of the fire at 10:30pm. The two units reached the scene at 10:50pm and began work to control the blaze.

After about one hour and 20 minutes of effort, the fire service extinguished the fire. It was brought under control at 11:10pm and fully extinguished at 11:58pm.

One Chinese citizen working at the factory was injured in the incident. The fire service said there were no deaths.

The fire service's initial assumption is that the fire may have started from an electrical short circuit. The fire caused an estimated Tk 10 lakh in damage, while goods worth about Tk 50 lakh were recovered, the fire service said.

The factory is registered as a lithium battery manufacturer. In September, the factory was accused of evading more than Tk 3.28 crore in VAT.

On 17 September, acting on a tip-off, the Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate (West), Dhaka, raided the company. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) said the raid uncovered information about Tk 3,28,23,053 in VAT evasion.

In a press release published on 20 September, the NBR said that during the raid, finished batteries were found at the factory along with battery-making raw materials and equipment and imported mobile chargers, headphones of various brands and Bluetooth headphones. Documents of the company were seized for further verification on initial suspicion of VAT evasion.

Reviewing the seized documents, the NBR said the company had concealed sales information worth Tk 14,56,18,507, evading Tk 1,89,85,892 in VAT. It also found a further Tk 1,38,37,161 in VAT evasion from concealing purchase information for goods and raw materials worth Tk 15,22,08,775.

However, officials said the actual extent of damage from the fire and its cause will be confirmed after investigation.