Man fined over S$700,000 for role in scheme to evade duty, GST by illegally diverting liquor for local sale

SINGAPORE: A man was fined more than S$700,000 (US$518,000) on Tuesday (Dec 17) for engaging in a conspiracy to evade duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Ng Shi Xiang, 38, is the last of four Singaporeans to be sentenced over their involvement in a scheme to illegally divert duty-suspended liquor for local distribution.

The liquor had already been declared to be exported as sea stores, the Singapore Customs said in a media release on Wednesday. 

Sea stores are goods that are supplied for consumption or use onboard a vessel by the crew and passengers outside Singapore waters. Such items include food, cigarettes, liquor and other necessities. 

As sea stores are considered exports, they are exempted from payment of duty and GST.

The case was uncovered during an operation on Apr 2, 2020, when Singapore Customs officers observed a lorry leaving a licensed warehouse carrying duty-suspended liquor meant for export as sea stores from Penjuru Terminal.

The lorry did not proceed directly to Penjuru Terminal and instead unloaded four pallets of duty-suspended liquor near Penjuru Lane.

The four pallets of liquor were seized by Singapore Customs for investigation.

THE CONSPIRACY

Investigations revealed that the scheme was masterminded by Chua Tong Ling Melvyn, 43, who had come up with the plan sometime between October and November 2019.

Chua had asked Ng to find front companies to be declared as exporters in customs export permits. He also asked another person - Tay Liang Hwee Roger, 46 - to assist with the relevant paperwork.

In October 2019, Ng introduced Chua to Poh Chee Chean, who was director of the company Universeroc.

Poh, 41, agreed to allow Universeroc to be declared as the exporter in the export permits for the illegally diverted duty-suspended liquor, in return for S$5 per carton of liquor declared.

He then created an email account for Universeroc and provided Ng with a pre-signed chequebook and Universeroc’s bank account login details.

An export permit must be obtained before any duty-suspended liquor can be removed from licensed warehouses and delivered to vessels.

To get around this requirement, Chua instructed Tay to create fictitious trade documents and email correspondences to give the impression that the company had received a legitimate order for the export of duty-suspended liquor as sea stores.

"These falsified documents created were used to apply for the export permits, concealing the fact that the duty-suspended liquor was subsequently diverted inland," said Singapore Customs.

Between November 2019 and April 2020, Chua’s scheme resulted in a total of 459 cartons of duty-suspended liquor, or 3,898.2L, being illegally diverted for local distribution.

The total duty and GST evaded amounted to about S$151,440.

Ng pleaded guilty to two charges of engaging in a conspiracy to evade payment of duty. Another four similar charges to evade duty and GST were taken into consideration during sentencing.

He was fined a total of S$712,163.76.

On Jul 3 last year, the State Courts sentenced Chua and Tay to fines of S$864,770.28 and S$763,032.60 respectively.

They had pleaded guilty to two charges each of engaging in a conspiracy to evade payment of duty. Another four similar charges each were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Poh was dealt with on Oct 6, 2021 and fined S$300,351.45.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in a conspiracy to evade payment of duty. Another similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.