Economy

Pepsi charged with evading taxes of 1.11m

By Nie Ligao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-29 17:07
Large Medium Small

PepsiCo Inc evaded taxation of up to 1.11 million yuan ($162,600) during the process of material imports, a secondary court in Guangzhou said last week.

The court said Pepsi's staff eluded taxation by means of applying a false product code to Customs during material imports from April 2005 to September 2007.

PepsiCo has replied that they had been strictly abiding by enterprise ethics and would offer full cooperation with authorities to find a way to resolve the taxation issue.

PepsiCo and its two workers were charged with smuggling.

The verdict has not yet been declared. However, according to a report by Xinhuanet.com, a briefing recently issued by an anti-corruption office in Foshan showed that PepsiCo in Guangzhou was penalized 700,000 yuan for bribing a local superstore.