Leasing company director jailed and fined over $4.8m for evading duty, GST and ARF
The sole director of a vehicle leasing company was sentenced on 30 September 2026 for a scheme to evade customs duty, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Additional Registration Fee (ARF) on imported vehicles, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a release on 1 October.
According to LTA, the 48-year-old director of Karkaunsl Leasing was fined more than $4.8 million for fraudulently evading duty and GST. He did not pay the fine and will serve about four years and seven months in jail in default. He also received two weeks’ jail for falsifying payment records submitted to Singapore Customs, and a separate 21-week jail term for under-declaring vehicle values to LTA, which reduced the ARF paid.
The customs offences involved suppressed values on 866 vehicles imported between January 2017 and February 2022, with more than $1.2 million in duty and GST evaded. The company imported vehicles for resale to local retailers. A former director of one of those retailers was fined $418,300 in July 2025 for her part in evading duty and GST on 34 vehicles.
The customs offences were prosecuted under the Customs Act, while the ARF offence concerned the values declared to LTA when the vehicles were registered. The sentences were handed down by the State Courts.
The importer bought vehicles overseas and sold them on to local retailers, so the undervaluation affected the tax paid on cars that later reached ordinary buyers.
What fleet buyers should take from it: ARF and duty are calculated on a vehicle’s Open Market Value, so under-declaring that value cuts the tax bill unlawfully. Businesses buying or leasing vehicles, especially parallel imports, should deal with established suppliers, ask for proper import and registration documents, and be wary of prices well below the market. LTA and Customs have shown they will trace undervaluation years after the vehicles were registered.
The full release on LTA’s website sets out the charges and sentences in detail.
Source: Land Transport Authority — Read the original
