A manager of a car import company was sentenced by the State Courts on 27 May 2016 to four weeks’ imprisonment and a fine of $594,399.60 for fraudulently under-declaring the values of 47 imported cars.

Ang Wee Tat Vida (洪卫达), 35, pleaded guilty to 28 charges of incorrect declarations of the values of imported cars under the Customs Act. Another 52 similar charges were taken into consideration in the sentencing.

In addition, Ang pleaded guilty to 15 charges under the Road Traffic Act for providing the said incorrect information on the values of the imported cars, or commonly known as Open Market Value (OMV), which affected the amount of Additional Registration Fees (ARF) payable for these cars. Another 32 charges were taken into consideration in the sentencing. Ang was also ordered by the Court to pay the ARF shortfall for the 47 imported cars to the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Singapore Customs and the LTA began investigating the company Dream Auto Pte Ltd in July 2013.

Investigations revealed that Ang had asked his suppliers – from Japan, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong – to split the value of each vehicle into two invoices, of which only one was submitted to Singapore Customs for the assessment of duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) payable. In some cases, he asked the exporters to create fictitious invoices with lower values of the imported vehicles and submitted them to Singapore Customs.

Between January 2012 and June 2013, Ang submitted to Singapore Customs such incomplete or fictitious invoices for 47 imported cars.

The total duty, GST and ARF evaded as a result of the under-declaration amounted to more than $74,000, $31,000, and $370,000 respectively.

Fraudulent evasion of duty and GST on the importation of goods is a serious offence under the Customs Act. Anyone found guilty can be liable to a fine up to 20 times the amount of tax evaded and/or be jailed for up to two years.

Providing incorrect information affecting the amount of tax chargeable on the registration of a vehicle in Singapore is similarly a serious offence under the Road Traffic Act. Anyone found guilty will be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months. The Court shall also order him to pay up the undercharged tax amount.