The naivety of the PAP government

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Five years’ jail for man in GST fraud scheme that cheated Iras of over $2m​

Christine Tan

FEB 29, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man who joined a criminal scheme that cheated the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) of over $2 million has been sentenced to five years’ jail.
On Feb 29, Kelvin Yeo Soon Teck, 42, pleaded guilty to two offences under the Companies Act and one charge of forgery. Two other charges of forgery were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that the fraud took place from September 2015 to April 2016.
In 2015, Yeo got to know a Vietnamese man, Trinh Tien Dung, known as Don, and a 47-year-old Singaporean man, Francis Tan Nuan Seng.
Don, one of the masterminds, got Yeo on board the scheme to defraud Iras.
Known as “missing trader fraud”, this scheme exploits the goods and services tax system for illicit gain.
The police and Iras said in a previous news release that a typical arrangement for this fraud involves a group of businesses that forms a supply chain through which goods are sold.

At each stop along the supply chain, the seller charges GST on the goods sold. But the original seller then disappears without paying the collected GST to Iras, and becomes the “missing trader”.
Meanwhile, the goods sold down the chain are purportedly exported by the last seller in the chain.
Since exports are zero-rated, this last seller does not collect GST on the exports. Instead, it claims a refund from Iras on the GST paid on its purchases of the goods.

The state will suffer a loss if Iras refunds this last seller, as the “missing trader” had not paid the GST it had collected for its sale of the goods at the start of the chain.
Yeo operated two companies involved in the fraud, M_Solution Trading (MSTPL) and Crescendo Hardware Trading (CHTPL). He ran the operations of MSTPL with Tan, according to court documents.
MSTPL, a shell company incorporated after the men hatched their plan, was the “missing trader” in their scheme. It pretended to sell goods to a chain of other businesses, including CHTPL, and collected 7 per cent GST on its “sales”.
CHTPL was a legitimate company that provided wholesale plumbing and piping equipment, but it was used as a buffer company in the fraud and did not have any real dealings with MSTPL.

Don provided details such as stock specifications, quantities and prices to Yeo, who used the information to forge various sales invoices from MSTPL and CHTPL.
In total, the invoices claimed fictitious sales of more than $115 million.
The scheme resulted in about $7.5 million in fraudulent tax claims filed with Iras. Of these claims, Iras paid out about $2 million.
Yeo received between $110,000 and $140,000 as commission for his role in the scheme.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Matthew Choo, Joshua Phang and Lee Da Zhuan asked for between 62 and 70 months’ jail, noting that this was a serious and sophisticated case of tax fraud.
The prosecutors said GST is an important source of revenue for government expenditure on economic and social programmes.
Said the prosecutors in their submissions: “GST fraud thus has a wide-ranging impact, depriving the Government of the revenue to fund these programmes, and also depriving the public of these programmes’ benefits.”
In mitigation, Yeo’s lawyer, Ms Lim Bee Li, said Yeo faced stress and guilt about his involvement in the scheme and had told Don he wanted out.
“When he made an attempt to tell Don, he faced threats that his family and himself would face danger if he did not continue acting under the instructions of Don,” added Ms Lim.
But District Judge Wong Li Tein did not accept this as a mitigating factor.
“The fact that (Yeo) felt that he could not leave was a consequence of allowing himself to be manipulated by Don,” said the judge, adding that there was no evidence Yeo was forced to continue with the scheme.
Tan’s case is still before the courts. A Singaporean man, Sia Hock Chuan, 57, who was the director of MSTPL, was fined $5,000 for his role in the scheme.
Another local man, Luke Giam Zi Hin, 41, and one Louis Tan, were identified in court documents as one of the masterminds and runners of the scheme respectively. It was not stated if Don and these two men have been arrested.
This is the second prosecution in Singapore involving missing trader fraud, said the police and Iras.
In the other case, involving shell company Nagore Trading, nearly $8 million in fraudulent tax claims were filed with Iras, which was cheated of more than $772,000.
Four men linked to the case were sentenced to between five months’ and four years’ jail. The alleged accomplices’ cases are before the courts.

 

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Jail for man who cheated BCA and gave over $207k in bribes to 2 people to clinch SIA project​

Joseph Ang Kok Leng handed the money to the two men, who were in cahoots, in six separate payments between June and Oct 2019. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

MAR 01, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man who wanted to secure a project with Singapore Airlines gave more than $207,000 in bribes to a freelance interior designer and an SIA employee.
Joseph Ang Kok Leng, who was a manager at interior design firm Lin ID Group and construction company Lin Builders, handed the money to the two men, who were in cahoots, in six separate payments between June and October 2019.
Separately, he also worked with two other people to cheat the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in 2020. He was part of a plan to submit false documents to BCA in a move that would allow Lin Builders to bid for projects of higher value.
On Feb 29, Ang, 52, was sentenced to six months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count each of graft and cheating.
The freelance designer and the former SIA employee involved in the graft case were dealt with in court earlier.
In September 2023, freelance designer Rex Zhang Jiahao, then 38, was sentenced to eight months’ jail.
Two months later, Lionel Low Jun Jie, then 36, who was an assistant manager of properties (development) at SIA at the time of the offence, was sentenced to 10 months’ jail. He is no longer working for the airline.

In earlier proceedings, the court heard that Zhang and Low had known each other through reservist duties.
At the time of the offence, Low managed ad-hoc renovation projects for SIA, and his duties included conducting quotation or tender exercises.
After receiving quotations or tenders from applicants, he would shortlist contractors for interviews and make recommendations for one to be awarded the project.

Some time from late 2018 to early 2019, SIA conducted a tender for the construction of a two-storey pre-fabricated building with 24 classrooms at its training centre.
In 2018, Low asked Zhang to recommend building contractors for the project.
The two men then agreed for Zhang to find a contractor from whom they could ask for “commissions”.
In late 2018, Ang received a call from Zhang, who asked if he was interested in the project with SIA.
Deputy public prosecutors R. Arvindren and Goh Qi Shuen stated in court documents: “Rex assured Joseph that if he was interested, he could help Joseph qualify for the project by speaking to his contact in SIA, referring to Lionel.”
Ang agreed to be part of the plan.
Low then shared with Zhang that the project had a budget of $2.5 million, as well as other information linked to it, including the expected timelines.
In turn, Zhang disclosed the information to Ang.
The project was later awarded to Lin ID for around $2.17 million. The company was also awarded a separate contract to supply furniture linked to it.
Together, they represented the largest project Lin ID had obtained and completed as at April 2021.
Ang then instructed Lin ID’s employees to prepare the payments to Low and Zhang totalling more than $207,000, which was paid out through six cheques.
In the separate case Ang pleaded guilty to, he worked with two other people linked to Lin Builders to cheat BCA in 2020.
Felicia Low Mun Xin, 35, who was Lin Builders’ chief accountant at the time, and Mohamed Barak Lathif, 51, then its freelance consultant, were each sentenced to four weeks’ jail in 2023.
In 2020, Barak prepared false documents for Lin Builders’ application to BCA to obtain a C1 financial grading, which would allow it to tender for public sector projects worth up to $4 million.
Low and Ang were also part of the plan.
To obtain a C1 grading, the total value of a company’s projects in the past three years should be at least $3 million. Lin Builders’ earlier application in 2019 was rejected as it did not satisfy this requirement.
Due to the false documents, BCA approved Lin Builders’ application for a C1 financial grading in August 2020.
On Feb 29, Ang’s bail was set at $15,000, and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on March 28 to begin serving his sentence.

 

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Jail for ex-director of construction firm over fabricated quotes to Gardens by the Bay​

Tan Hong Chian pleaded guilty to 10 charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and was sentenced to four weeks’ jail. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

MAR 18, 2024

SINGAPORE - A director of a construction firm continued with his predecessor’s dishonest ways and became involved in the submission of 48 fabricated supporting quotations to Gardens by the Bay.
Tan Hong Chian, 59, was the director and sole decision-maker of Full House Building Construction when the firm was awarded 25 jobs, worth nearly $96,000 in all, under the dishonest scheme.
On March 18, he pleaded guilty to 10 charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and was sentenced to four weeks’ jail.
He is no longer a director at Full House, but a search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority reveals he is still a shareholder there.
His predecessor and sister-in-law at the time of the offences, Goh Siew Ling, then 51, was sentenced to 13 weeks’ jail in April 2023 after she pleaded guilty to 20 charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Vincent Ong said Goh, also known as Margaret, was a director at Full House from July 2013 to June 2018.
DPP Ong told the court: “Margaret was the key mover and genesis of the conspiracy, whose directions set the entire scheme into motion and perpetuated it across different employees in Full House through her instructions. She is by far the most culpable person involved in the conspiracy.”

She was linked to 88 fabricated quotations. As a result, Full House was awarded 49 jobs, worth nearly $766,000 in all, from 2017 to 2018.
On July 4, 2017, Gardens by the Bay awarded the firm a two-year term contract for building improvement and maintenance work.
The contract had set out a schedule of rates (SOR) that listed the agreed rates for specified common building improvement and maintenance work. For such jobs, Full House would invoice Gardens by the Bay according to the SOR.

There was other work with no rates specified, known as “star rate items”. For such jobs, Full House had to independently obtain three quotations from other firms. It was allowed to submit its own quotation as one of the three.

These submitted quotations would then be reviewed by Gardens by the Bay staff. If they were in order, the staff would make recommendations to their director for approval.
From July 2017, Full House did not obtain genuine quotations from other firms for star rate items, after Goh hatched a scheme to fabricate two quotations that were priced higher than the one from Full House.
As part of the ruse, two of her subordinates would prepare two fictitious quotations using soft-copy templates of other contractors’ company letterheads, which Goh provided.
The subordinates would intentionally price the two quotes higher than the one from Full House.
Full House’s quotation and the two fictitious ones would then be submitted to Gardens by the Bay staff.
On multiple occasions, the job was awarded to Full House.
In 2018, Tan became a director at Full House after buying out its other shareholders, identified as his brother and Goh.
He continued committing similar offences from July to December 2018. Among other things, Tan worked with his then subordinates on a case involving fabricated quotations for painting work at the attraction.
The fabricated quotations contained statements that were false, stating that two other companies had each purportedly quoted sums of more than $6,000 for the job, when in fact both firms had no intention of performing the task.
Full House, which issued a quotation of $3,600, later clinched the job, the court heard.
Tan’s bail was set at $15,000 on March 18, and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on April 4 to begin serving his sentence.

 

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Jail for man who conspired with ex-contractor to steal 140 laptops from National Cancer Centre​

Over the course of investigations, the police recovered 40 out of the 140 laptops which were sold. PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
Christine Tan

APR 08, 2024

SINGAPORE - A man conspired with a former IT contractor to steal 140 laptops meant for National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) staff, and sold them for more than $68,000.
The former contractor, Mohamed Shahrizal Shaik Mohamed, 31, and his accomplice Muhammad Fairuz Jasni, 38, then gambled the proceeds away.
On April 8, Fairuz was sentenced to 34 months’ jail on two charges of abetting housebreaking and theft.
Shahrizal has been charged. His case is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on April 11.
At the time of the first theft in February 2023, Shahrizal was a desktop support engineer with CTC Global, an IT vendor in charge of buying and installing new laptops and other IT equipment for NCCS. Fairuz was Shahrizal’s friend.
The company bought the laptops at $1,088 each and kept them in an office in NCCS. The room is usually locked, and CTC Global employees have to get a contractor’s pass and a key from a security desk to enter it.
On Feb 16, 2023, Fairuz contacted a user on e-commerce platform Carousell who specialised in selling laptops and said he had more than 10 laptops to sell.

When the buyer asked the origin of the devices, Fairuz said they were from a company which had a surplus of laptops due to a cancelled project.
The next day, Shahrizal and Fairuz stole 10 laptops and sold them to the buyer for $600 each. Court documents did not say how they committed the theft.
On Feb 25, 2023, they stole a second time. Shahrizal went to the office room at noon, packed 25 laptops into two boxes and took them out of the room on a trolley.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Ying Min said: “As (Shahrizal) was responsible for deploying laptops to other departments, his actions did not rouse the suspicion of his colleagues.”
Shahrizal then met Fairuz at the NCCS carpark and loaded the boxes into a car. Fairuz then sold the laptops to the same buyer for $15,000 in total.
CTC Global fired Shahrizal three days later due to poor work performance, but that did not deter the two men from stealing again.
They planned for Fairuz to enter the NCCS building. Shahrizal told Fairuz where the office room was and how to get the contractor’s pass and key.

On March 25, 2023, a Saturday, Fairuz managed to get a contractor’s pass using a false name and requested the key to the office room.
He stole 105 laptops in four trips on that day, and Shahrizal helped to load them onto a van. Fairuz sold them all to the same buyer on the same day for $450 each, or $47,250 in total.
CTC Global staff discovered the missing laptops when they returned to the office the following Monday, and called the police.
The police arrested Fairuz and Shahrizal, who still had $4,500 and $16,000 on them respectively from the proceeds of the crime.
Over the course of investigations, the police recovered 40 out of the 140 laptops that were sold. It is not clear where they recovered those from.
Separately, Fairuz admitted to paying a 17-year-old girl $400 for sexual services, and asking another 16-year-old girl if she wanted to have sex with him. Both offences took place in 2020.
Three other charges relating to theft and one charge of possessing an obscene film were taken into consideration for his sentencing. In total, he was sentenced to 37 months’ jail.