Company director fined $48k over false export statements
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Ng Huiwen
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A director of a wholesale trade company was yesterday fined $48,000 for making false statements while applying for certificates of origin to export stainless steel products.
Singaporean Chetan Rasiklal Sheth, 63, was seeking to export 22 shipments of stainless steel coils and sheets worth $1.2 million for his company, Tradewinds Impex, to India.
A certificate of origin is a trade document that identifies the origin of the goods.
Singapore Customs, in a statement yesterday, said that it started investigating the company after being tipped off that it was facilitating the evasion of anti-dumping duties in India.
Investigations revealed that between Sept 2014 and July 2015, Sheth had made false statements to the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI).
Sheth had declared that the stainless steel coils and sheets originated from countries such as Japan, Malaysia and Turkey when the goods had, in fact, originated from Thailand, Italy, India and the United States.
He applied for the certificates under the instruction of a man whom he met during his business trip to India in 2014.
The man agreed to pay Sheth a commission totalling US$39,834 (S$55,137) to apply for the certificates.
In applying for the certificates from the SICCI and SMCCI, Chetan relied solely on the documents provided by the man.
The assistant director-general of the Intelligence and Investigation Division at Singapore Customs, Mr Yeo Sew Meng, said that submitting false statements to obtain certificates of origin is a serious offence.
"Errant traders will be brought to task to ensure a level playing field for all traders and to uphold Singapore's position as a trusted trade hub," he added.
Anyone found guilty of giving false statements to the authorities to obtain the certificates of origin may be fined up to $100,000, or three times the value of the goods involved in the offence, whichever is greater.
The offender may also face a jail term of up to two years.
