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Two Singaporean men, aged 45 and 51, were fined more than $2.6 million for under-declaring the values of vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a joint media release on Monday (April 20), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Singapore Customs said the duo’s actions resulted in the fraudulent evasion of excise duties, goods and services tax (GST) and the underpayment of the additional registration fee (ARF) during vehicle registration.<\/p>\n
Loke Chern Meng, 45, and Desmond Phang Boon Wee, 51, were sentenced on March 6, 2023 and April 20 this year respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Loke was fined more than $1.2 million in March for abetting the fraudulent evasion of duty and GST by allowing Phang to manage the company. Loke did not pay the fine and will serve 26 months’ imprisonment in default.<\/p>\n
On April 20, Phang pleaded guilty to two amalgamated charges of fraudulent evasion of duty under the Customs Act and was fined more than $1.3 million.<\/p>\n
According to charge sheets, Phang suppressed the declared values of 142 vehicles imported by Metalox Autos Pte Ltd between January 2021 and January 2022, resulting in duty evasion amounting to $185,477.<\/p>\n
Another two amalgamated charges of fraudulent evasion of GST amounting to about $77,900 involving the same vehicles, and two charges of fraudulent evasion of duty and GST amounting to about $3,475 for the import of one vehicle in December 2020, were taken into consideration during sentencing.<\/p>\n
Like Loke, Phang did not pay the fine and will serve 27 months’ imprisonment in default.<\/p>\n
For the offence of under-declaring the values of 139 vehicles at the point of registration with LTA, Loke and Phang were each sentenced to five weeks’ imprisonment.<\/p>\n
They also pleaded guilty to two amalgamated charges of giving incorrect information in relation to the values of 130 motor vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two similar amalgamated charges for another nine motor vehicles were taken into consideration during sentencing.<\/p>\n
The duo were ordered to pay the ARF shortfall of more than $1.3 million to LTA.<\/p>\n
The two agencies said Phang acquired Metalox in 2020 to import vehicles at suppressed values to pay less GST and duty.<\/p>\n
He then asked Loke to become the registered director and sole shareholder of Metalox to avoid legal liability.<\/p>\n
For doing so, Loke was offered $200 for every vehicle imported by Metalox.<\/p>\n
In return, Loke allowed Phang full control over the company’s operations, including access to Metalox’s CorpPass account and cheque books pre-signed by Loke.<\/p>\n
Phang would then source for local buyers and placed the orders with his overseas suppliers.<\/p>\n
He used false invoices containing lower than actual prices of the motor vehicles from the suppliers and submitted them to Singapore Customs as supporting documents in the declaration of facts.<\/p>\n
He then made payments to his overseas suppliers based on two invoices \u2014 one based on the false invoices, and the other based on the undeclared amount.<\/p>\n
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