AHN Staff
Caracas, Venezuela (AHN) - The head of Venezuela's tax agency ordered Thursday the closure of all 115 branches of American fastfood chain McDonald's in the country over bookkeeping irregularities related to its taxes.
The order to shutter the hamburger chain was for 48 working hours, which covered Thursday to Saturday, according to Jose David Cabello of the tax agency. He explained McDonald's sales and purchases books have inconsistencies, particularly on taxes it was supposed to pay the Venezuelan government.
McDonald's is not the first multinational which has had problems with the Venezuelan government. A major U.S. soft drink company was also ordered closed by the government recently for 48 hours, also on charges of bookkeeping irregularities.
The move is seen as one of the anti-U.S. stand Venezuelan President Hugo Chaves has taken over the past few months, which culminated in Venezuela and another South American nation and Caracas-ally Bolivia kicking out American ambassadors in their capital cities. In turn, Washington did the same thing to the envoys of the two nations and froze as well the assets of Chavez's three aides.
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