SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): A 44-year-old man involved in various vehicle businesses has been fined S$1.5 million (RM6.7 million) for fraudulent evasion of duty and goods and services tax (GST) on 427 motor vehicles imported into Singapore between January 2019 and October 2020.
Jason Liang Huan Shuo, a Singaporean, was also sentenced to five weeks’ jail on Dec 2 for underpaying the additional registration fee – the main tax imposed during the registration of the vehicles – the Singapore Customs and Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a statement.
Liang, the sole proprietor of JDM Automobile and a partner at Autogallery@JDM, pleaded guilty to three charges, two of which were under the Customs Act for fraudulent evasion of duty amounting to about $245,674 for the import of the motor vehicles.
The third charge was for giving incorrect information under the Road Traffic Act in relation to the value of 219 motor vehicles.
Three other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Liang was engaged by a 49-year-old man – who had previously imported and supplied vehicles to Liang’s two companies – to look for “fall guys” to import motor vehicles with suppressed values to evade duty and GST.
In 2016, Liang coordinated with the 49-year-old man – a Singapore permanent resident – to establish a new company, Smartcar Auto.
The 49-year-old man managed the company, which was registered under a “fall guy”, 48-year-old Singaporean Tan Lye Khim.
Tan’s role was to bear the full legal consequences should the authorities detect the under-declaration.
In return for his assistance, Liang could buy motor vehicles from Smartcar at discounted prices and had his orders for popular models prioritised.
Liang acted as a liaison between the 49-year-old man and Tan and helped to set up various bank accounts for Smartcar.
He also allowed Smartcar to operate from JDM Automobile’s premises at no cost.
Liang asked Tan to pre-sign all the cheques for Smartcar’s bank account before handing them, along with the bank tokens, over to a female employee of Smartcar.
The 32-year-old woman, a Singapore permanent resident, was responsible for placing orders and liaising with overseas suppliers, making payments to suppliers and preparing and submitting motor vehicle values imported through Smartcar to Singapore Customs for assessment.
Tan was fined $3.6 million on Jan 2 for fraudulent evasion of duty and GST on 983 motor vehicles imported into Singapore between November 2018 and October 2020.
Court proceedings are ongoing for the 32-year-old woman, while investigations into the 49-year-old man are under way.
Those convicted of fraudulent evasion of any duty or GST on imported goods can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, jailed for up to two years, or both.
Those convicted of giving incorrect information in relation to any matter affecting the amount of tax chargeable can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.
The court shall also order the offender to pay the amount of tax undercharged to LTA. - The Straits Times/ANN
