Investigations revealed that Liang was engaged by a 49-year-old man to look for “fall guys” to import vehicles with “suppressed values” to evade duty and GST.
This man, a Singapore permanent resident, had previously imported and supplied vehicles to Automobile and Autogallery.
Liang then recruited Tan Lye Khim to be the “fall guy”. Tan’s role was to bear the full legal consequences should the authorities detect that the vehicles were undervalued.
In 2016, Liang coordinated with the 49-year-old man to establish a new company, called Smartcar Auto. This company was registered under Tan and managed by the 49-year-old man.
“In return, Liang could purchase motor vehicles from Smartcar at discounted prices and had his orders for popular models prioritised,” said Singapore Customs and LTA.
He also acted as a liaison between the 49-year-old man and Tan, and helped to set up various bank accounts for Smartcar.
Smartcar was allowed to operate from Automobile’s premises at no cost. Liang asked Tan to pre-sign all the cheques for Smartcar’s bank account before handing them, along with the bank tokens, over to an employee of Smartcar.
The employee, a 32-year-old woman, was responsible for placing orders and liaising with overseas suppliers.
She was also in charge of making payments to suppliers, as well as preparing and submitting motor vehicle values to Singapore Customs for assessment.
Court proceedings are ongoing against the employee, while investigations are underway regarding the 49-year-old man.
Tan was fined S$3.6 million in January but he failed to pay the fine and is serving 43 months in jail in default.
He was also sentenced to an additional seven weeks’ imprisonment for underpaying the Additional Registration Fee (ARF) during the registration of the vehicles. In total, he was sentenced to about 45 months’ jail.
Anyone who evades or attempts to evade GST or duty may be fined up to 20 times the amount evaded. They may also be jailed for up to two years.
Anyone who provides false information that affects the amount of tax chargeable may be fined up to S$10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.