Samsung executives appeared in an Indian court seeking to overturn US$81 million in penalties, part of a larger US$601 million tax bill levied over alleged import tax evasion.
According to Reuters, India’s tax authority claims Samsung and its executives deliberately mislabelled imports of mobile tower equipment between 2018 and 2021 to avoid tariffs. The South Korean tech giant has already challenged a separate US$520 million payment order before a tribunal, denying any wrongdoing.
The US$81 million penalty was imposed on Samsung India executives for “knowingly and intentionally” facilitating the alleged misclassification of imports.
In court filings seen by Reuters, Samsung India’s logistics executive Ravi Chadha described the ruling as “rushed,” noting that the Mumbai High Court issued the penalty just three days after receiving hundreds of pages of detailed responses from the company in January.
Chadha, who faces an individual fine of INR950 million (US$11.1 million), argued the timeframe was “utterly insufficient” for a thorough investigation, stating: “The present case is limited to the interpretation of tariff entries.” He also noted that based on his salary, it would take more than a century to pay the “egregiously exorbitant” penalty.
Six other executives are also facing penalties, including network division vice president Sung Beam Hong, finance general manager Sheetal Jain, and Samsung’s general manager for indirect taxes, Nikhil Aggarwal.
