Jail and fine for Singaporean who laundered fraudulent VAT refunds from the UK

SINGAPORE – A Singaporean man has been convicted for engaging in a conspiracy to launder fraudulent value-added tax (VAT) refunds from the United Kingdom.

The police and Singapore Customs said on Wednesday that M J-Earn Joesz, 40, was also convicted for breaching the customs declaration obligation under the Goods and Services Tax Act.

Joesz was sentenced to four months and two weeks of imprisonment and a $6,000 fine on May 24.

The prosecution arose from joint investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and Singapore Customs, with the help of the HM Revenue and Customs of the United Kingdom.

The probe began after Singapore Customs received information of an unsuccessful attempt to make VAT refund claims in another European country.

Investigations revealed that around December 2020, Joesz and others were recruited by Singaporean Alan Yeo to travel to London to collect fake jewellery and claim VAT refunds for the jewellery.

Joesz managed to claim a VAT refund of 30,940 euros (S$44,650).

When he arrived in Singapore, he failed to declare or pay customs duty for the jewellery that he had collected in London.

The police arrested Joesz in Singapore on Dec 12, 2022.

The next day, four men, including Joesz and Yeo, were charged in connection with the fraudulent scheme.

Yeo has since been convicted, including for engaging in a conspiracy with Joesz to launder fraudulent VAT refunds. On April 14, he was sentenced to eight months in jail.

CAD director David Chew called the successful prosecution “a culmination of a joint transnational collaboration between the HM Revenue and Customs of the United Kingdom and authorities in Singapore”.

He added: “I would like to thank the HM Revenue and Customs for their strong commitment to work with us to disrupt this transnational syndicate. The Singapore Police Force and Singapore Customs are resolute in our enforcement and investigation efforts against such criminal activities.”

Under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, a person can be fined a maximum of $500,000, or jailed for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both for fraudulently claiming tax refunds.

Those who fail to declare dutiable goods which are imported into, exported from or transhipped in Singapore, at the customs can be fined up to $10,000 or the equivalent of the amount of the customs duty, excise duty or tax payable, whichever is the greater amount, or imprisoned for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both.

To avoid being implicated in money laundering, members of the public should reject dubious job offers to travel for the purpose of claiming sales tax refunds from overseas authorities, said the authorities.