Car leasing firm director jailed more than 5 years for tax fraud, underpaying registration fees

A 48-year-old Singaporean was on Wednesday (Sept 30) sentenced to over five years' jail after he was found guilty of orchestrating a multi-year scheme to evade duty, Goods and Services Tax (GST), and Additional Registration Fee (ARF) on imported motor vehicles.

In a joint media statement on Thursday (Oct 1), the Singapore Customs and Land Transport Authority (LTA) identified Mah Chee Wern as the sole director of Karkaunsl Leasing at the time of the offences.

They said an investigation was launched by the Singapore Customs after it detected discrepancies in the value of declared vehicles submitted by Karkaunsl.

Through its investigations, Singapore Customs said it found that Mah had instructed overseas suppliers to issue invoices with lower values.

This allowed Karkaunsl to pay reduced duty and GST while retaining profits of about $800 to $1,500 per vehicle.

It also acted as an import agent for a company, Hybrid Vehicle Singapore (HVS), which liaised with overseas suppliers to obtain invoices with lower values.

It then used these invoices to submit to Customs for duty and GST assessment, despite knowing the values in these invoices were lower.

Charges faced by Mah

For his actions, Mah was fined more than $4.8 million for fraudulent evasion of duty and GST on 866 motor vehicles imported between January 2017 and February 2022, resulting in more than $1.2 million in duty and GST evaded.

As he did not pay the fine, Mah will serve about four years and seven months' imprisonment.

He was also sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment for falsification of payment records to Singapore Customs.

Mah was also sentenced to 21 weeks' imprisonment for under-declaring the values of vehicles at the point of registration with LTA, which resulted in the underpayment of ARF.

He admitted to providing incorrect information in relation to the value of 683 vehicles, with seven other amalgamated charges involving another 193 motor vehicles taken into consideration during sentencing.

According to the agencies, the incorrect declarations resulted in a total ARF shortfall of over $9.9 million.

Meanwhile, Su May Thu, a former director of HVS, was fined $418,300 on July 5, 2025,

The 36-year-old Myanmar national had coordinated with Mah and overseas suppliers to import cars intended for HVS through Karkaunsl.

Singapore Customs and LTA said the fraudulent evasion of duty and GST involving 34 vehicles led to more than $72,000 in duty and GST evaded.

一名 48 岁的新加坡男子于周三（9 月 30 日）被判处五年以上监禁，此前他被认定策划了一项长达数年的计划，以逃避进口机动车的关税、商品及服务税 (GST) 和附加注册费 (ARF)。

新加坡海关和陆路交通管理局（LTA）在周四（10 月 1 日）发布的联合媒体声明中确认，马志文是犯罪发生时 Karkaunsl Leasing 的唯一董事。

他们表示，新加坡海关在发现 Karkaunsl 提交的申报车辆价值存在差异后，展开了调查。

新加坡海关表示，经调查发现，马某曾指示海外供应商开具金额较低的发票。

这使得 Karkaunsl 能够缴纳较少的关税和消费税，同时每辆车还能保留约 800 至 1500 美元的利润。

它还担任新加坡混合动力汽车公司（HVS）的进口代理，该公司与海外供应商联络，以获取金额较低的发票。

然后，该公司明知这些发票上的金额较低，却仍使用这些发票向海关提交关税和消费税评估申请。

马赫面临的指控

马某因其行为被罚款超过 480 万美元，原因是他在 2017 年 1 月至 2022 年 2 月期间进口了 866 辆机动车，涉嫌逃税逃税，逃税金额超过 120 万美元。

由于他没有缴纳罚款，马赫将被判处约四年零七个月的监禁。

他还因向新加坡海关伪造付款记录而被判处两周监禁。

马某还因在向陆路交通管理局 (LTA) 注册车辆时少报车辆价值，导致少缴车辆登记费 (ARF) 而被判处 21 周监禁。

他承认提供了有关 683 辆车价值的不实信息，另有七项合并指控涉及另外 193 辆机动车，在量刑时予以考虑。

据相关机构称，不正确的申报导致 ARF 总缺口超过 990 万美元。

与此同时，HVS前董事苏美秋于2025年7月5日被罚款418300美元。

这位 36 岁的缅甸籍男子与 Mah 和海外供应商协调，通过 Karkaunsl 进口用于 HVS 的汽车。

新加坡海关和陆路交通管理局表示，涉及 34 辆车的欺诈性逃税和消费税导致超过 72,000 美元的关税和消费税被逃避。