GST cheat jailed 41/2 years

[Taishi Ci]

Aug 13, 2010
GST cheat jailed 41/2 years

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IN JUST over a year, the number of falsified declarations for goods and services tax (GST) issued by Mahesh Sukhram Daswani's companies made him the biggest GST cheat. The amount of tax undercharged came to a staggering $5.69 million and it earned the businessman the stiffest jail sentence for GST fraud and the highest penalty to date.

Daswani looked shaken when he was jailed 41/2 years by a district court on Friday. He also has to pay a penalty of more than $17 million or three times the tax undercharged. Prior to this, the largest GST cheating case involved about a $1 million in 2006.

The court heard that between July 2003 and August 2004, Daswani, 43, had claimed fictitious GST refunds on bogus exports of mobile phones to neighbouring countries for Sadhashiv Enterprises (SE) which later became known as SEPL. Daswani, who pleaded guilty to 11 charges last month, had another nine charges for helping SEPL and another firm evade tax taken into consideration in his sentencing.

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[konglanjiaowei]

Computer forensic techniques expose Singapore's biggest GST fraud case


Computer forensic techniques expose Singapore's biggest GST fraud case
By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 13 August 2010 1709 hrs
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SINGAPORE: A manager of a company dealing in mobile phones has been jailed for 54 months and ordered to pay a penalty of nearly S$17.1 million in Singapore's biggest GST fraud case so far.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said 43-year-old Mahesh Sukhram Daswani, from Sadhashiv Enterprises, faced 20 charges for claiming fictitious GST refunds in the GST returns of the company.

The S$17.1 million penalty is three times the amount of tax undercharged. He had helped the company evade GST by omitting sales and the GST amount from July 2003 to August 2004.

Daswani had also helped another business - Lekhraj & Bros - evade GST.

IRAS said computer forensic techniques were used to expose his crimes.

- CNA/wk