SINGAPORE: A Singaporean woman has been fined S$52,000 after faking invoices to mislead authorities, among other offences, Singapore Customs said on Monday (Jan 20).
Jean Heng Sok Tian, manager of Tania Asia Logistics and Free Trade Zone Logistics and Transportation, was fined on Jan 8 in default of 104 days' jail for multiple offences under the Customs Act.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe 50-year-old's offences included making incorrect declarations, breaching permit conditions, failing to deposit dutiable goods in a licensed warehouse and furnishing false supporting documents to Singapore Customs.
These offences were uncovered after customs officers found 42 pallets of dutiable liquor and cigarettes while conducting a check at a warehouse in Airport Logistics Park of Singapore on Jun 9, 2016.
The items belonged to Tania Asia Logistics and were supposed to have been exported.
Subsequent investigations revealed that in 2015, Heng had made incorrect declarations to Singapore Customs on two occasions to declare that the cigarettes were exported, when she knew they would not be exported and were being stored in the warehouse.
AdvertisementAdvertisementShe also told staff from Free Trade Zone Logistics and Transportation, which is owned by her husband, to make incorrect declarations on two other occasions.
Heng's husband is also the sole director of Tania Asia Logistics, according to Singapore Customs.
By storing the cigarettes in the warehouse, Heng had also breached a permit condition on five occasions. It is a requirement to store dutiable goods at an approved place if they are not exported or transshipped on the same day.
In addition, Heng was found to have committed offences in 2013 regarding the liquor found in the warehouse.
She had applied for permits for the transshipment of liquor through Singapore on two occasions, but some of the liquor was eventually not exported but stored in the warehouse instead.
"In doing so, Heng had similarly breached the permit condition which required the liquor to be stored in an approved place if the liquor was not exported on the same day," Singapore Customs said in its media release.
Heng also provided false documents to Singapore Customs when she was requested to prove the liquor had been exported.
She had "deliberately created fictitious invoices" and altered the supporting documents of other shipments, submitting them to Singapore Customs in her "attempt to mislead", said the authority.
In total, 16,435 cartons and 11 packets of cigarettes and 22,094 bottles of liquor were seized from the warehouse and were ordered to be forfeited by the State Courts.
Heng pleaded guilty to 12 charges, while another 41 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.
Under the Customs Act, anyone who makes an untrue, incorrect or incomplete declaration could be fined up to S$10,000, or the equivalent amount of the customs duty, excise duty or tax payable, whichever is the larger amount. They could also be jailed for up to 12 months.
Anyone who who breaches any condition and restriction for which a licence or permit is granted could be fined up to S$5,000.
Anyone who knowingly gives false information or false documents as true could be fined up to S$5,000, jailed for up to 12 months, or both.
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