Man fined S$560,000 for evading duty on nearly 30,000 bottles of beer

“To carry out the scheme locally, he used a Singapore-incorporated company and directed Tong to act on his instructions.”

In August 2025, Han informed Tong of his plan to import the duty-unpaid beer from China for storage and sale in Singapore. The scheme was designed to evade duties on the beer, thereby increasing sale profits.

Han instructed Tong to liaise with a freight forwarder in China to falsely declare the beer as non-dutiable items such as food items or industrial machinery.

Han then purchased the beer in China, which was delivered to the freight forwarder and exported to WCI in Singapore under false declarations.

Tong subsequently arranged for the imported duty-unpaid beer to be stored in WCI’s warehouse or storage units before it was delivered to WCI customers in Singapore.

Those found guilty of buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing in duty-unpaid liquor can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded. Offenders may also be jailed for up to 12 months.