S'porean man, 44, gets over 9 years' jail for evading GST & duty on imported motor vehicles

A 44-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to over nine years in jail for evading duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) on imported motor vehicles.

The man, Lee Clement, was director of Crownston Line Pte Ltd (Crownston) at the time of the offences.

He was fined S$14 million on Feb. 25.

But as he did not pay the fine, he was ordered to serve 112 months' jail in default.

Evasion

Lee's offences were set out in a Mar. 11 joint media release by Singapore Customs and the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Between July 2016 and April 2022, Lee illegally suppressed the declared values of 2,523 motor vehicles imported into Singapore.

He did this to evade paying import duties to the Singapore Customs.

In total, Lee pleaded guilty to eight such charges under the Customs Act, amounting to about S$5,197,564 in unpaid duties.

Another 15 charges of fraudulent evasion of GST and incorrect declaration were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Under-declaring values of vehicles

Lee was also sentenced to 12 months' jail for under-declaring the values of vehicles at the point of registration with LTA.

He did this to avoid paying over S$39 million in Additional Registration Fees (ARF) to LTA.

In total, he pleaded guilty to providing incorrect information about 976 motor vehicles, with charges involving another 1,505 vehicles taken into consideration during sentencing.

The Court has ordered Lee to repay the outstanding amount to LTA.

Employee at Crownston

Lee's 41-year-old male Singaporean employee, Sim Yan Min, had earlier been fined S$6.8 million by the State Courts on Apr. 8, 2025.

Sim, who had been employed at Crownston since 2017, pleaded guilty to four charges under the Customs Act for abetting the fraudulent evasion of duty amounting to approximately S$2,598,078 on the import of 1,120 motor vehicles.

Another eight charges for abetting the fraudulent evasion of GST and incorrect declaration were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Sim is currently serving 72 months' jail in default since he did not pay the fine.

Modus operandi

Investigations by Singapore Customs revealed that Lee would contact overseas suppliers and ask them to suppress the prices indicated in the invoices.

Sim would then help Lee prepare the documents for submission to Customs.

For each order of imported cars, Crownston would split its payments into two or more.

The first payment would reflect the suppressed amount, matching what was declared to Customs.

Crownston would then send the rest of the money in separate payments to the overseas suppliers, through various remittance houses.

This was done to avoid detection of these additional payments, which would reveal the actual values of the vehicles imported, according to the release.

Lee admitted that by doing so, Crownston would pay lower duties and GST, reducing business costs.

Penalties

Under the Customs Act, those convicted of being involved in the fraudulent evasion of any duty or GST on imported goods shall be liable to a fine of up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or up to two years' jail.

Under the Road Traffic Act, those convicted of giving incorrect information in relation to any matter affecting the amount of ARF chargeable shall be liable to a fine not exceeding S$10,000 or to an imprisonment term not exceeding six months, with the maximum penalty doubled for amalgamated charges under s124(8) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The court shall also order the payment of any under-charged ARF to LTA.

Members of the public with information on smuggling activities or duty or GST evasion are encouraged to report it to Customs online.

Top photos via AFP, Canva