Three women have been arrested for illegally selling value-added tax (VAT) invoices which were estimated at more than VNĐ1 trillion (US$44.4 million), according to the Ha Noi police.

Invoice books and rubber stamps were seized during a police search.

Le Thi Kim Anh, from Tay Ho District, and Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, from Ba Dinh District, both 42, were charged with setting up a dozen ghost companies with 32-year-old Ngo Thi Thu Huyen from Hai Ba Trung District since 2013. Those companies were used only for their names to print invoices without any real business operations.

The trio said that they would take a fee of 3.6 to 4.2 per cent of the amount written on the VAT invoices sold to other companies.

An initial investigation showed that the three sold illegal VAT invoices to more than 1,000 companies, with the credits written on the invoices reaching over VNĐ1 trillion.

A search at the addresses of those ghost companies uncovered more than 200 invoice books, 14 rubber stamps of 12 different companies and over VNĐ1 billion in cash. 

VNS