Car importer gets jail, S$1 million fine for under-declaring values of vehicles including Porsche

THE CASE

Concordway is an importer of motor vehicles from overseas suppliers in Japan and the United Kingdom, and also provided services to customers wanting to source and import vehicles from overseas suppliers through Subash’s contacts.

Customs began investigations after an individual importer of a Porsche 718 Cayman Style Edition submitted documents stating a suspiciously low declared value.

Based on information obtained from this importer, Customs officers searched Subash’s residence. 

He then admitted to assisting clients in importing vehicles for commissions of S$3,000 to S$4,000 by liaising with overseas suppliers to provide invoices with suppressed values significantly lower than the actual vehicle prices.

The false invoices were then submitted to customs as supporting documents for their import.

To conceal the money trail, payments were split into two transactions: A suppressed payment corresponding to the declared value and a balance payment, which was the difference between the actual and declared values.

Subash would also remit lump sums to overseas suppliers to cover balance payments for multiple vehicles in order to avoid detection.

For fraudulently evading duty on imported goods, Subash faced a fine of up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded, up to two years’ jail or both.

For giving incorrect information in relation to any matter affecting the additional registration fee chargeable, he may have been fined up to S$10,000 or faced a jail term of up to six months, in addition to the payment of any under-charged fees.