PUBLISHED ONSeptember 04, 2026 12:07 PMBYSean LerA 47-year-old Chinese national has been ordered to pay a fine of $560,000 for masterminding a scheme to evade Goods and Services Tax (GST) on more than 28,000 bottles of duty-unpaid beer.
Han Xiaoyang pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraudulent evasion of duty under the Customs Act on Friday (Sept 4, the Singapore Customs said.
"He was the mastermind behind a scheme to evade duty and GST on imported beer," the agency added.
During an operation on Nov 19, 2025, Singapore Customs officers observed two workers moving a consignment of liquor into a unit of an industrial building in Tagore Lane.
Upon inspection of the consignment, officers found 4,044 bottles of duty-unpaid beer.
When questioned, the workers identified a 29-year-old male Chinese national, Tong Baobao, as the person-in-charge.
Tong was subsequently arrested when he arrived at the scene.
Follow-up searches then uncovered an additional 31,016 bottles of duty-unpaid beer.
According to the Singapore Customs, its investigations revealed that Han had conceived and orchestrated a scheme to import duty-unpaid beer from China into Singapore through false declarations.
He then used a Singapore-incorporated company — Wan Changya International (WCI) — to carry out the scheme locally, and directed Tong to act on his instructions.
The scheme entailed importing duty-unpaid beer from China for storage and onward sale in Singapore, Customs said.
During the process, Tong was instructed by Han to liaise with a freight forwarder in China to falsely declare the beer as non-dutiable items such as food items or industrial machinery.
The beer were then delivered to the forwarder and exported to WCI under false declarations.
Tong would then arrange for the imported beer to be stored in WCI's warehouse or storage units before delivering them to its customers in Singapore.
On May 4, the 29-year-old had pleaded guilty to three charges for fraudulent evasion of duty amounting to $39,517 and was fined $322,000.
However, Tong did not pay the fine, and he was jailed for 80 days in default.
The Singapore Customs said Han also did not pay the $560,000 fine and will be serving 164 days imprisonment in default.
It also warned would-be perpetrators that the Singapore Customs is committed to detecting and deterring tax evasion, adding that they will pursue and prosecute "without hesitation" those who violate the law.
Under the Customs Act and the GST Act, buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing in duty-unpaid liquor are serious offences.
Offenders can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed for up to two years.
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