Two men charged over GST fraud involving S$181 million in allegedly fake sales

CNA

2 days ago

SINGAPORE: Two men were charged in court on Tuesday (Aug 5) over their alleged involvement in Goods and Services Tax (GST) "missing trader fraud", involving about S$181 million (US$140 million) in fictitious sales.
Missing trader fraud happens when a seller collects GST from sales but does not pay the tax to Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). The seller is known as the missing trader.
Meanwhile, businesses further down the supply chain continue to claim refunds from IRAS for the GST paid on their purchases.
Derrick Yeo Wei Kin, 40, and Yeo Kian Huat, 73, are believed to have set up four shell companies and used them to operate a fraudulent business between November 2017 and April 2018.
It is not clear if the men are related.
According to a police statement, the men allegedly sold goods from one company to the other companies at inflated prices amounting to about S$181 million.
The sales and purchases among the companies are believed to be sham transactions created to allow the men to claim GST from IRAS.
The younger Yeo allegedly submitted three fraudulent GST refund claims to IRAS in an attempt to cheat the authority into disbursing S$11.8 million.
He also allegedly forged a supplier's invoice and submitted it to IRAS so that the authority would approve the GST registration application of one of the shell companies.
He also purportedly made fraudulent GST refund claims under the electronic tourist refund scheme by deceiving IRAS into disbursing GST cash refunds of more than $140,000 when there were no such purchases under the scheme.
The two Singaporeans received four charges each of fraudulent trading under the Companies Act.
Asked for their position on the charges, the younger Yeo said: "I'm not guilty". The older Yeo said he would be "claiming trial".
The men were unrepresented and the younger Yeo has several other charges already tendered against him before this development.
The cases were adjourned for pre-trial conferences.