Car dealer jailed for evading taxes on 2,523 imported vehicles
A Singaporean car dealer will serve more than nine years in prison after failing to pay a S$14 million fine imposed for evading taxes on thousands of imported vehicles.
Clement Lee, 44, the former director of Crownston Line Pte Ltd, had suppressed the declared values of 2,523 motor vehicles imported into Singapore for a period of close to six years, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in a news release on Wednesday (11 March).
Car dealer asked suppliers to suppress vehicles’ values
The offences took place between July 2016 and April 2022, LTA said.
According to Singapore Customs’ investigations, Lee had contacted overseas suppliers and asked them to suppress the values of the vehicles stated on invoices.
That means for each order, Crownston made at least two payments — the first matched the suppressed amount in the invoice declared to Customs, while the remaining amount was paid to the overseas suppliers via various remittance houses.
This allowed the company to pay its suppliers while avoiding detection of the vehicles’ actual values.
His Singaporean employee, 41-year-old Sim Yan Min, would help him prepare the documents for submission to Customs and remit the excess payments to the overseas suppliers.
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Doing this would allow Crownston to pay lower duties and Goods and Services Tax (GST), thereby reducing its business costs, Lee admitted.
Car dealer pleads guilty to evading taxes of about S$5.2M
In court on 25 Feb, Lee pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Customs Act over the fraudulent evasion of about S$5,197,564 of duties.
He was fined S$14 million, with another 15 charges involving GST evasion and incorrect declarations taken into consideration during sentencing.
As he did not pay the fine, he will serve 112 months in prison in default.
Car dealer underdeclared values of 976 vehicles during LTA registration
Lee had also underdeclared the values of 976 motor vehicles when registering them with LTA.
This resulted in the underpayment of S$39,130,302 in Additional Registration Fees (ARFs).
He pleaded guilty to three amalgamated charges under Section 11(9) of the Road Traffic Act for providing incorrect information affecting the amount of tax chargeable on vehicles.
He was thus sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, with another four similar amalgamated charges involving another 1,505 vehicles taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court also ordered Lee to repay the more than S$39.1 million outstanding to LTA.
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Employee serving 6 years’ jail
Sim, who had worked at Crownston since 2017, was judged to be an accomplice.
He admitted that Lee had told him that the remittances to the overseas suppliers were balance payments for vehicles under-declared to Customs.
He eventually pleaded guilty to four charges under the Customs Act for abetting the evasion of duties on 1,120 imported vehicles, amounting to about S$2,598,078.
Sim was fined S$6.8 million on 8 April 2025, with another eight charges related to GST evasion and incorrect declarations taken into consideration during sentencing.
He is currently serving 72 months — or six years — in jail in default after failing to pay the fine.
Jail & fine for evading duties or GST on imported goods
Under the Customs Act, anyone convicted of fraudulently evading duties or GST on imported goods may be fined up to 20 times the amount involved and/or jailed for up to two years.
The offence of providing incorrect information that affects ARF charges, under the Road Traffic Act, carries a jail term of up to six months or a fine of up to S$10,000.
The maximum penalty may be doubled for amalgamated charges under Section 124(8) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
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The court shall also order the repayment of any undercharged ARF to LTA.
Members of the public with information about smuggling or tax evasion are encouraged to report it to Customs.
Also read: 71-year-old S’porean businessman arrested in Thailand over alleged S$207K tax evasion
71-year-old S’porean businessman arrested in Thailand over alleged S$207K tax evasion
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