A CAR importer was fined $95,000 for fraudulent evasion of duty and GST and giving false information to Customs officers to bring in a brand new Porsche Cayman car.

Soh Chee Kwang, 31, admitted evading duty and Goods and Services Tax amounting to $9,622 on June 13 and was convicted of one count each of fraudulent evasion of duty and GST, and two counts of furnishing information to Customs officers on Monday.

In his declaration to Customs on April 26 to get a Customs permit for the import of the Porsche Cayman from Germany into Singapore, Soh had stated that the value of the car was 28,000 euros (S$59,300) and submitted supporting documents to substantiate this.

The car arrived on May 31.

Singapore Customs' investigations revealed that the supporting documents provided by Soh were falsified.

He had on two separate occasions on May 12 and 13 provided falsified documents to substantiate a lower false purchase value for the motor vehicle.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the actual invoice value of the car paid for by Soh to the supplier in Germany was 48,710 euros, which is 20,710 euros higher than the value of 28,000 euros declared by Soh.

Soh was arrested on June 12 June and charged.

On Mondy, he was fined $60,000 and $25,000 for fraudulent evasion of $6,776.53 in duty and $2,846.14 in GST respectively.

On the two counts of furnishing false information, he was fined $5,000 each.

Anyone found guilty of fraudulent evasion of duties or GST can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duties and GST evaded or in default a jail sentence.

Giving false information and furnishing false documents to Customs officers can land an offender a fine of up to $5,000 or jail term of up to 12 months, or both.