VietNamNet Bridge - Apple Operations International (AOI), the owner of Apple Vietnam, has been involved in in the past in tax evasion scandals in the US and Ireland.

 

The building where Apple Vietnam's office is located

 

Vietnamese newspapers reported that Apple has ‘quietly established a subsidiary in Vietnam called Apple Vietnam Limited Liability Company as written in the investment license’. The company received the license on October 28, 2015.

The representative of Apple Vietnam - Gene Daniel Levoff – is a renowned face at Apple, who plays a very important role in implementing the technology group’s plan to expand foreign markets. 

Gene Daniel Levoff is the deputy chair of AOI, which was named by international press when reporting the tax evasion scandals in the US and Ireland.

AOI was named ‘Apple Company’ in the past with Luca Meastri acting as vice president and CFO.

AOI was described as a ‘bogus company’ because it, though established in August 1980, had no officer by 2003 and did not have a good office.  

In 2013, AOI became even more famous than its holding company – Apple Inc – when people thought that AOI was a company set up by Apple Inc just to evade tax. 

Fortune then noted that a 30-year old company did not have any officer and any physical presence. 

Though it made a huge profit of $30 billion in 2009-2011 and it held the key to foreign markets, it did not have to pay tax dollars in the last five years to the governments in the countries where it operated.

However, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook denied the tax evasion, affirming that the group has fulfilled its tax duties as requested by law.

The investment license granted to Apple Vietnam showed that the company has chartered capital of VND15 billion, while its head office is located at Room 608A of Me Linh Point, the building at No 02 Ngo Duc Ke, Ben Nghe District, HCM City, Vietnam.

However, a receptionist at the company which manages the office building said the room has been closed for many months and no one is working there.

Meanwhile, the information that Apple has set up its subsidiary in Vietnam caused excitement.

When Vietnamese users report problems about Apple’s products, the products are sent to Singapore for treatment, a process which takes time. In the future, with the presence of Apple in Vietnam, Vietnamese users will enjoy better post-sale services.

In related news, Apple’s Steve Wozniak will come to Vietnam and participate in a workshop in HCM City on December 2.

Kim Chi