Four Indians were today sentenced to jail terms up to 48 months and fined after being convicted of fraudulent Goods and Services Tax refund claims, corruption and money laundering.
The four men - Sundar Panneer Selvam, Baskaran Uthirapathy, Pounraj Natarajan and Gobi Raman - had paid for receipts from bona-fide shoppers who had purchased jewellery and obtained electronic tourist refund scheme (eTRS) tickets from jewellery retailers, according to media report.
The men then presented the eTRS tickets and jewellery not purchased by them to Mohamed Yusof Bin Abdul Rahman, a customs officer on duty at the inspection counter in the airport.
The officer, who had received bribes from the four men, then approved the false GST refund claims.
The four Indian nationals then presented the approved eTRS slips at the refund counter to get the GST refunds in cash.
After receiving the refunds, then men spent a portion of the cash on duty-free items at the airport, before departing Singapore for India on the same day with the remaining money.
Selvam was sentenced to 48 months' jail and fined SGD 292,977.33, Uthirapathy received a jail term of 42 months' and was fined SGD 237.595.53, Natarajan got a 45 month jail term and a penalty of SGD 201,129.66, while Raman was sentenced to 36 months' jail and fined SGD 202,044.81.
Between September 2012 and January this year, the four men racked up fraudulent claims of about SGD 570,000 in GST refunds.
The case against former customs officer Mohamed Yusof will be heard again in court on November 6.
