A FOOD supplier was charged on Friday with two counts of making false entries in his income tax returns with intent to evade tax.

Ong Guan Hwa, 34, is alleged to have declared that the partnership income he got from Hup Lee Frozen Food was $40,826 when the actual amount was

$114,048 for the year of assessment 2004.

A second similar charge accuses him of falsely declaring that his income from the firm was $108,695 for the year of assessment 2005 when it was $238,578.

Ong's lawyer, Mr Ong Sim Ho, sought a two-week adjournment to take further instructions and prepare his mitigation plea.

Inland Revenue Authority legal officer Quek Hui Ling asked for bail of $10,000, citing flight risk. She also asked for his passport to be surrendered.

But Mr Ong disputed that his client, an active businessman, was a flight risk and urged the court not to impose bail. He said the family man supplies materials and goods to hawker stalls all over the island and has also paid up the tax involved totalling no more than $30,000.

District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan turned down the prosecution's request for bail.

Ong will be back in court on Jan 18.

If convicted, he faces a penalty of three times the tax evaded and a fine of up to $10,000 or a jail term of up to three years or both.

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