THE taxman has reeled in another motor trader suspected of evading duties.

Lauren Sim Guan Heng will face 146 charges of 'fraudulent evasion of excise duty and GST' and 124 charges of 'making incorrect declarations', Singapore Customs said on Monday.

The alleged underpayment, pertaining to 310 Japanese cars the parallel importer brought in in 2006 and 2007, amounted to about $417,000.

Sim is managing director of Cars Motor Enterprise, and a manager at Crane Motor Enterprise. It is understood the charges pertain to cars brought in by the latter. He is also a member of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association.

Sim was arrested by Customs officiers on Monday

If found guilty, he faces fines of up to 20 times the amount evaded, a jail sentence, or both.

He would also have to cough up additional registration taxes pertaining to the cars.

Singapore Customs charged 12 motor traders in court for similar offences since last November.

So far, only one has been convicted. Toh Chee Wee, 36, owner of Yi Sheng Trading, was fined $1.416 million in April.

Commenting on the bust, Singapore Customs said: 'As the lead agency on trade facilitation and revenue enforcement matters, we will take to task traders which flout customs regulations to defraud the state or to gain an unfair advantage over other traders.'

Under the Customs Act, importers are to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the values of their goods.