Singapore Man Sentenced by Singapore State Courts for Evading Duties on Cigarettes
State Courts of Singapore sentenced Tan Tong Meng, a Singaporean national, to 18 months in prison for storing cigarettes for which duties had not been paid and for evading duty and Goods and Services Tax, Singapore Customs said. Tan submitted false export quantity data of the amount of cigarettes in his export permits, leading to the duty evasion, the agency said May 18.
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Tan owns VSL Maritime Services and Supplies, a ship spares and sea stores supplier for vessels in Singapore's territorial waters. The defendant bought cigarettes from licensed warehouses with the supposed intent of supplying them to vessels as sea stores, which are technically considered exports and thus exempted from duty and GST payments. Singapore Customs said that Tan ordered more cigarettes than the vessels required, diverting the extra cigarettes inland to be stored at VSL.
Tan pleaded guilty to one charge of storing cigarettes for which duties had not been paid and nine charges of duty evasion involving nine export permits. He evaded about $67,800 (in Singapore dollars) in duties for the 10 charges.