Ai Weiwei, the internationally renowned Chinese artist detained by authorities for almost three months this spring, has said officials have ordered him to pay $2.4-million in tax.
Beijing police released him in June, citing his ill health, good attitude in confessing his crimes, and willingness to repay back taxes he had evaded.
But the 54-year-old told the Guardian he did not owe the money and would challenge the demand, adding: “It’s a game they play all the time…They needed an excuse to take me away for 81 days.”
His family and supporters always believed that his detention was in retaliation for his social and political activism. During his interrogations he was questioned about issues such as subversion of state power rather than his accounts.
Ai said the authorities told him the tax was owed by FAKE, the company that handled his affairs but that was legally registered by his wife.
“I am a designer for the company; I am not the legal representative, nor the manager. I never signed papers or made a deal or transferred money — I was nothing to do with the accounting. They said I was the ‘actual controlling person’ of the company,” he added.
No proof
But he is unsure how he can challenge the payment notice because police seized all the company’s documents a few days after detaining him and have not returned them, nor allowed anyone to inspect them.
He said authorities had originally told him he would have to pay 20-million yuan, but later told him they had reduced it to 15-million yuan, “because they had considered my ability to pay”.
They told him not to discuss it in case the figure changed, but have now given him written notice that he must pay the 15-million yuan and have said they will explain to him how they arrived at the sum.
Ai said public security officials told him on Monday that he should not argue about the bill because the government would not change its mind and asked whether he had the money ready.
He said that his mother had told him they should auction his late father’s house to pay the bill if necessary. Ai Qing, Ai’s father, is one of China’s best-known poets.
Pu Zhiqiang, Ai’s lawyer, said they were seeking to challenge the demand.
Cracking down
Chinese police claimed during Ai’s detention that FAKE had evaded “a huge amount” of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents, according to state news agency Xinhua.
They also detained the company’s accountant Hu Mingfen for two months. Colleagues described her as meticulous, with one telling the Guardian: “She is very prudent. Lu Qing [Ai’s wife] used to say: ‘Even if it’s just one cent missing, Hu has to count it to be clear.'”
Shortly after Ai’s release in June, a friend said the artist had been told he owed around $19.2-million, composed of unpaid taxes and a 7-million yuan fine.
Earlier this month, Art Review named Ai the most powerful figure in the global art world in its annual “Power 100” list.
His works include the Sunflower Seeds exhibit at Tate Modern.
Calls to the Beijing tax bureau rang unanswered. —