The National Board of Revenue has asked banks to freeze all accounts of a unit of furniture maker and retailer Otobi for non-payment of value added tax worth Tk 60.55 lakh, a senior official said yesterday.

The Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate of Dhaka West has recently issued the directive asking all banks to freeze the bank accounts of M/S Otobi Ltd (Unit-5). The directive also asked banks to deduct the amount unless the VAT is paid to the exchequer within 15 days.

“We have already frozen the accounts after detection of the evasion in an audit into the records of the firm,” said Md Shahidul Islam, commissioner of Customs, Excise and VAT Commi-ssionerate.

This unit 5 of Otobi is located at Savar, Dhaka's northwest, according to Mahbubul Alam, chief taxation officer of Otobi Ltd.

Alam denied the allegation of evasion but said the firm could not pay the VAT in time.

“We could not pay because of financial crisis caused by a fire at the factory earlier,” he said,

He said the company has raised dispute of Tk 15 lakh out of the total claim by NBR's field office.  “But we were not given any clarification,” he claimed.

Freezing of bank accounts was not the right move and Otobi vows to fight the case legally, Alam said.