Singapore Customs Issues Fine for Evasion of Import Duties

The Singaporean owner of an auto company was fined $418,000 (in Singapore dollars) after he tried to avoid paying duties on imported motor vehicles, Singapore Customs said in an Oct. 1 notice. The agency said two companies paid Tan Wee Leng, owner of Zion Auto Imports, to declare “suppressed” values for motor vehicles on duty payment permits in 2015. One company paid Tan up to $2,000 for each permit, which allowed the company to evade paying large amounts of import duties. Singapore Customs said he helped the companies avoid more than $150,000 worth of duties.

Tan was also charged with failing to retain records relating to the imports. He told Singapore customs he had “misplaced” the documents and that he “made no attempts to recover” them.