Jail for man involved in scheme linked to bogus sales transactions of over $240m

SINGAPORE – A man, who was part of a syndicated missing trader fraud (MTF) scheme, falsified 704 sales invoices linked to a wholesale trading firm, reflecting fictitious sales transactions totalling more than $240 million.

Tan Tuan Heng, 46, was the sole director and shareholder of Brillantec Solutions (BSPL) at the time of the offences.

With the falsified sales invoices, BSPL made tax claims of over $16 million, leading to more than $191,000 in refunds.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) has withheld claims linked to the remaining amount.

Separately, Tan submitted 11 goods and services tax (GST) monthly returns between October 2012 and October 2013, based on fictitious sales transactions supported by forged supplier invoices and falsified BSPL invoices.

The Singaporean falsely claimed nearly $480,000 in taxes for the period, and received the amount in refunds.

On Feb 17, Tan was sentenced to 11 years and six months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to nine charges for offences including cheating and those linked to GST-linked crimes.

The prosecution stated in court documents that BSPL was incorporated in September 2011.

In 2012, Tan faced financial difficulties and hatched a plan to make fraudulent GST claims based on fictitious sales transactions.

Among other things, he claimed taxes from Iras for the purported sale transactions to overseas customers between October 2012 and October 2013.

The goods in these transactions purportedly came from three suppliers.

In reality, BSPL did not purchase the goods from the suppliers or sell them to the overseas customers.

BSPL’s tax agent later filed 11 GST monthly returns that included fictitious sales transactions.

As a result, Iras paid BSPL nearly $480,000 in tax refunds and Tan used his ill-gotten gains to settle his debts and personal expenses.

The prosecutors said that BSPL was required to file GST returns on a monthly basis and was liable for GST on taxable supplies made to its customers.

The firm must also pay taxes to Iras on a monthly basis when it filed its GST returns.

Between October 2012 and January 2014, BSPL made false entries in its GST returns, leading to undercharged taxes totalling more than $4.2 million.

In addition, Tan was involved in an MTF scheme between June 2013 and June 2014.

The prosecutors said that Trinh Tien Dung, a Vietnamese, and Luke Giam Zi Hin, a 41-year-old Singaporean, were masterminds of the scheme.

It made use of taxation schemes, such as GST, by exploiting the system of self-declaration.

Overall, fraudulent input tax claims amounting to about $16 million were submitted to Iras, leading to more than $191,000 in refunds.

Between June 2013 and June 2014, Tan was part of a group that conducted BSPL’s business for a fraudulent purpose.

He received a total commission of between $360,000 and $480,000.

In an unrelated case, Tan was a sales manager at Techtiq when he hatched a plan to cheat the firm.

With the use of items such as forged purchase orders, Techtiq’s account staff made payments of more than US$457,000 (S$613,000) and over $256,000 to another company’s bank accounts in March and April 2018.

Tan then received some US$455,000 and around $255,000 after the director of the other firm deducted a 0.5 per cent commission for the ruse.