PUBLISHED ONAugust 14, 2026 12:55 PMBYSean LerA Singapore-registered company and three individuals, aged between 28 and 54, were on Friday (Aug 14) charged for allegedly declaring falsely the origin of bedding products and other goods worth about $1.9 million.
In a news release after they were charged, Singapore Customs said they had done so in an apparent attempt to circumvent import duties imposed by the US.
The accused entity and persons are: Healthy Living Biotech; 28-year-old female Singapore permanent resident Yin Yuxi; 37-year-old male Chinese national Xue Xin; and, a 54-year-old Singaporean man, Bernard Koh Wee Kiap.
They were each charged with one of more offences relating to false declarations, false statements, and incorrect trade descriptions under the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act 1995 and the Regulation of Imports and Exports Regulations.
Healthy Living Biotech, Yin and Koh were also slapped with an additional charge of fraudulent evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the company's imports.
Singapore Customs said that it commenced investigations into the case in February this year.
According to the agency, the mattresses, exported from Singapore to the US, had been falsely declared as Singapore-origin goods, when their country of origin was actually China.
Further investigations uncovered an alleged scheme, carried out between August 2024 and September last year, involving goods with a total value of about $1.9 million.
The agency's investigations also uncovered an alleged scheme to suppress the declared value of the company’s imports and fraudulently evade the payment of GST amounting to about $111,000.
Court proceedings are ongoing against Healthy Living Biotech and the three individuals.
Singapore Customs said that it takes a serious view of the falsification of trade declarations or the misuse of Certificates of Origin.
"Such conduct undermines the integrity of international trade documentation and can damage Singapore's standing as a trusted and reliable global trading hub," it added.
A White House report on Aug 13 claimed that Singapore and dozens of other countries are at risk of being used by Chinese exporters to avoid US tariffs.
It frames the routing of Chinese goods through an intermediate lower-tariffed country by concealing the true origin, the Trump administration said.
The 40 countries, including Singapore, identified in the report as participants in the “shadow transshipment network”, were grouped into three tiers.
The White House placed Singapore in Tier 3, which the report said consists of “small, opportunistic Chinese targets”.
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