Over 170 travellers nabbed for evading GST, smuggling large sums of cash in island-wide operation, Singapore News
More than 170 travellers were caught across Singapore's land, air, and sea checkpoints for smuggling cash and evading tax payments on imported goods in a week-long multi-agency enforcement operation.
Over 19,000 travellers and 1,600 vehicles were identified for the checks carried out from May 21 to May 27, according to a joint news release on Saturday (May 31).
The operation involved the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Singapore Customs (Customs), National Parks Board (NParks), and Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
Among those held, 14 foreigners — aged between 26 and 77 — were nabbed for moving cash exceeding $20,000 or the equivalent in foreign currency into and out of Singapore without declaration or with inaccurate declaration.
One of these cases on May 24 involved three male travellers who were separately detected moving cash of various currencies valued between $22,938 and $541,000 into or out of Singapore without declaration.
Of the 14, four were issued with Notices of Warning, while seven were issued with composition sums amounting to $27,000.
The remaining three travellers are still undergoing investigations.
According to the police, it is a crime not to report cash or currency of more than $20,000 when crossing Singapore's borders.
If convicted, offenders will face a fine of up to $50,000, a jail term of up to three years, or both. The cash may also be confiscated.
"We will take strict enforcement action against anyone who fails to make a full and accurate report of cash movements into or out of Singapore," said David Chew, director of the Commercial Affairs Department.
Separately, 153 travellers were also caught for failing to declare and pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) on goods such as tobacco products, liquor, POPMART toys and undeclared luxury goods.
In one case, a traveller was caught with four litres of Chinese liquor in excess of duty-free allowances.
Another traveller was also caught with 20 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes.
In total, the GST evaded amounted to $10,754 and $35,165 in composition sums were imposed.
Under the Customs Act, those found guilty of the fraudulent evasion of customs or excise duties can face a fine of up to 20 times the amount evaded, or a jail term of up to two years.
Travellers are also reminded to declare and make payment for taxable items prior to their arrival in Singapore.
[[nid:710203]]
dana.leong@asiaone.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Paper
13 hours ago
- New Paper
Woman claims brother pushes her down flight of stairs in fight over inheritance
Madam Zhuo Jinfeng, 67, has three older sisters, one older brother, two younger brothers, and one younger sister. Their father sold eggs before expanding his business into a neighbourhood grocery store. When Mr Zhuo died three years ago at age 90, he left behind a seven-figure inheritance that has torn his children apart. The oldest daughter and youngest son have died, leaving Madam Zhuo and her five siblings. Madam Zhuo told Shin Min Daily News that growing up, the siblings would help out at the family business. When her father distributed his inheritance to only her eldest brother and younger brother, she felt that it was unfair for the sisters to not receive anything. Unhappy with the outcome, she confronted her younger brother at his house on May 31, but a conflict quickly broke out. "I think the money should be distributed equally. After all, we helped our family run the business when we were young," said Madam Zhuo. "I went to him to ask for money, but his wife took out a hammer and even wanted to spray insecticide on me. I used an umbrella to defend myself. "Then my brother pushed me, causing me to roll down the stairs. My hands and feet were bruised and my head was swollen." She added that she called the police. "I started helping my parents raise chickens and ducks, sell eggs and mixed rice when I was five or six years old," added Madam Zhuo. "I didn't have the opportunity to go to school and was living like that until my 20s. I didn't even have CPF for many years, and now I can't get a single cent. It's really heartbreaking." When the Chinese daily visited her younger brother's house on June 1, his family stressed that Madam Zhuo's claims of being pushed down were untrue and that she had fallen on her own. Her brother revealed that he had passed the surveillance footage to the police, and intended to apply for a personal protection order to prevent Madam Zhuo from visiting again.
Singapore Law Watch
19 hours ago
- Singapore Law Watch
High Court upholds acquittal of Chinese company accused of bribing ex-LTA deputy group director
High Court upholds acquittal of Chinese company accused of bribing ex-LTA deputy group director Source: Straits Times Article Date: 31 May 2025 Author: Selina Lum Henry Foo Yung Thye, who was in financial difficulties from gambling, had reached out to two senior employees from China Railway Tunnel Group's Singapore branch and asked for loans. The High Court has upheld the acquittal of a Chinese company that was charged with bribery after two of its employees gave loans totalling $220,000 to a Land Transport Authority (LTA) deputy group director. In a written judgment on May 29, the court said there was insufficient evidence to show that the company's top management was aware of or somehow complicit in the illegal acts. The Singapore branch of China Railway Tunnel Group was first acquitted of three corruption charges by a district judge in March 2024 on grounds that the two employees' acts could not be attributed to the company. Xi Zhengbing, who was the general manager and head representative of the branch, and Zhou Zhenghe, who was a deputy general manager, gave the loans to Henry Foo Yung Thye between January 2018 and August 2019. The district judge said Xi did not have a sufficiently high level in the chain of command. The Singapore branch is only one of the sub-departments within the company's overseas department, which is in turn only one department in the company's corporate structure. The prosecution appealed to the High Court against the acquittal. On May 29, the appeal was dismissed by a panel comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Tay Yong Kwang and Justice Andrew Phang. The court also noted that Xi and Zhou had resorted to defrauding the company with false invoices to obtain the $200,000 that was given to Foo as loans in 2018. Zhou then had to borrow $20,000 to provide the subsequent loan. 'All these showed clearly that the respondent was never involved in its employees' illegal activities and neither did it give its tacit approval (nor) pretend to be ignorant of what the Singapore branch's employees were doing,' said the court. In September 2021, Foo, then 47, was sentenced to 5½ years' jail for taking about $1.24 million in bribes in the form of loans from contractors and sub-contractors. Foo, who resigned from LTA in September 2019, was also ordered to pay a penalty of about $1.16 million, equivalent to the amount he had not returned. Xi and Zhou were arrested in September 2019 by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau. After being released on bail, they absconded to China, where they were arrested and subsequently convicted by a Guangzhou court. Xi was sentenced to a five-year jail term and a fine of 300,000 yuan (S$57,400). Zhou was sentenced to two years' jail and a fine of 100,000 yuan. China Railway Tunnel Group has 24 branches, eight of which are overseas. The Singapore branch was a sub-contractor for two different projects on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), and was awarded the main contract for a project on the Circle Line. At the time of the offences, Foo was involved in the project management of the main contractors in respect of TEL projects. Between 2016 and 2019, he reached out to the company's employees, including Xi, to ask for loans. No loan was given as a result of Foo's first request. Subsequently, Xi agreed to give him a loan upon his second request in the hope that Foo would refer more job opportunities to the company. Zhou then arranged for false invoices to be issued to the company and prepared supporting documents with forged signatures. These documents were presented to the company's finance department, which disbursed the payment. After receiving the money, Xi and Zhou passed $200,000 to Foo. In 2019, Foo made a third request. Xi agreed to give him another loan, in the hope that Foo would expedite the company's payment claims and help the company to win the tender for another project. On Xi's instructions, Zhou borrowed $20,000 from a friend and passed the money to Foo. The prosecution alleged that in 2016, Mr Liu Chenyu, who was based in China, was told of the discussions to pay Foo a bribe and approved his request for a loan. Mr Liu was then the deputy general manager of the company's overseas department, which was in charge of all the overseas branches. The prosecution presented text messages, including one from another employee of the Singapore branch telling Foo that Mr Liu was grateful for his support. But the High Court panel said the prosecution had not presented the necessary evidence to prove that Mr Liu was involved. The messages did not prove that Foo's request for a loan was actually conveyed to Mr Liu, said the judges. Lawyer Paul Loy of WongPartnership, who acts for the company, said his client will continue to respect the laws of countries in which it operates. Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction. Print
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
More than 1,100 migrants crossed Channel on Saturday: UK govt data
LONDON: Some 1,194 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats on Saturday (Jun 1), a record for this year according to AFP counting from government data. It brings the overall number of migrant crossings this year to 14,808, an unprecedented figure despite several measures in place by the French and UK governments to curb the crossings. French coastal authorities said they also rescued nearly 200 migrants between late Friday and late Saturday. The latest crossings, which UK Defence Secretary John Healey described as "shocking", fall short of the all-time record of 1,300 migrants arriving on small boats in a day in September 2022. But they will still prove a headache for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been at pains to toughen his rhetoric on irregular immigration amid pressure from the far right to slash migrant numbers. "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security," the Home Office said in a statement on the latest arrivals. Starmer unveiled tough new immigration policies this month that include doubling the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement in the country and new powers to deport foreign criminals. The raft of measures was widely seen as an attempt to win back support from voters and fend off threats from the increasingly popular hard-right Reform party. Separate legislation to tackle irregular immigration, called the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, is currently going through parliament. But Saturday's crossings will be a fresh blow. The overall figure of 14,808 crossings is the highest for the first five months of the year since records began in 2018, when the route into the UK first became popular. It also surpassed the record for the number of crossings in the first six months of the year - which stood at around 12,900 in the first six months of 2024. "SHOCKING" On Saturday, a total 184 people were picked up in four different rescue operations on the French coast, the maritime prefecture for France's Channel and northern region said in a statement. In one instance, the motor died on a boat carrying 61 people. In another, nine people on a boat called for assistance. According to an AFP tally of official figures, 15 people have died so far this year trying to cross the Channel, one of the busiest areas in the world for shipping. "Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday," Healey told Sky News in an interview Sunday. "We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up," he said, adding that "Britain's lost control of its borders". France this year agreed to allow its police patrols to intercept migrants in shallow waters, but they cannot stop a boat once it is on its way. "We've got the agreement (with the French) that they will change the way they work," Healey said. "Our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation". Healey also told the BBC: "What we now need is to work more closely with the French to persuade them to put that into operation so they can intervene in the water, in the shallow waters, which they don't at the moment."
