Disgraced monk and former head of charity Ren Ci, Ming Yi, has just been sentenced to 10 months' jail and his assistant Raymond Yeung was sentenced to 9 months. They were both found guilty of several charges related to a unauthorised loan of $50,000 made to Yeung. Many of the charges related to the covering up of the loan such as making false statements to the Commissioner of Charities and creating a false payment voucher. This case is another example of where if the defendants had admitted their wrong when first discovered instead of covering it up, they may well have escaped jail sentences. However, as is often the case, the cover up offences were more numerous than the original offence.
The judge was not impressed with Ming Yi's alleged sacrifices for the charity although a strong mitigation plea was made by his Senior Counsel Andre Yeap. An aggravating factor was that there were numerous acts of trying to cover up the unauthorised loan. Also taken into account was that public trust in the charity system was affected by such acts.
A contrast can be drawn with the case of TT Durai, former Chief Executive Office of the National Kidney Foundation. He was sentenced to a jail term of 3 months under the Prevention of Corruption Act in relation to an incorrect voucher which mischaracterized commission paid to a fund raiser. However, in Durai's case, there was no loss caused to the charity. In Ming Yi's case, the loan was repaid only after investigations had begun.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Tax exemption abuse - director sent to jail
In tax Year of Assessment 2005, the government introduced a tax relief scheme to encourage entrepreneurship. Newly incorporated companies would have tax exemption on the first $100,000 of their income for 3 years.
After learning about this scheme, Gan Oh Boon, director of Steel Formation and Rolling Specialists Ltd (SFRS), proceeded to incorporate 6 companies which then entered into service agreements with SFRS. SFRS supposedly paid these 6 companies for non-existent services. However, the 6 companies had no staff. There was therefore fictitious transactions such as payments for commission fees, technical consultancy fees, marketing consultancy fees, engineering consultancy fees and management fees. In doing so, Gan saved $1.62 million when filing his personal tax returns.
As a result of the tax evasion, Gan was jailed for 2 weeks, fined $8,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of nearly $1 million. His company was fined $24,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of also nearly $1 million. Gan was also punished for omitting to state in his tax returns the benefits he received from SFRS such as car instalments and other personal expenses which were paid for by SFRS.
It is arguable that actually no loss was caused to the government - Gan could have used the 6 companies for entering into transactions with customers and therefore obtained the tax exemption. Instead, it appears that SFRS received customer revenue and from this, deducted the amounts allegedly paid to the 6 companies as its expenses.
His tax advisor and auditor, Chng Chor Tong, was also the subject of tax evasion charges. He was sentenced to 6 months years jail for tax evasion in relation to his own sole proprietorship. He was therefore the first practising certified public accountant to be sentenced to jail for tax evasion.
After learning about this scheme, Gan Oh Boon, director of Steel Formation and Rolling Specialists Ltd (SFRS), proceeded to incorporate 6 companies which then entered into service agreements with SFRS. SFRS supposedly paid these 6 companies for non-existent services. However, the 6 companies had no staff. There was therefore fictitious transactions such as payments for commission fees, technical consultancy fees, marketing consultancy fees, engineering consultancy fees and management fees. In doing so, Gan saved $1.62 million when filing his personal tax returns.
As a result of the tax evasion, Gan was jailed for 2 weeks, fined $8,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of nearly $1 million. His company was fined $24,000 and ordered to pay a penalty of also nearly $1 million. Gan was also punished for omitting to state in his tax returns the benefits he received from SFRS such as car instalments and other personal expenses which were paid for by SFRS.
It is arguable that actually no loss was caused to the government - Gan could have used the 6 companies for entering into transactions with customers and therefore obtained the tax exemption. Instead, it appears that SFRS received customer revenue and from this, deducted the amounts allegedly paid to the 6 companies as its expenses.
His tax advisor and auditor, Chng Chor Tong, was also the subject of tax evasion charges. He was sentenced to 6 months years jail for tax evasion in relation to his own sole proprietorship. He was therefore the first practising certified public accountant to be sentenced to jail for tax evasion.
More jail for dishonest lawyer
Leong Wai Nam, who stole over $93,000 of clients' money, had his jail sentence increased from 3 years, 8 months to 6 1/2 years on appeal to the High Court. Justice Tay Yong Kwang agreed that a stiff sentence was needed to stop the increasing number of dishonest lawyers stealing clients' money.
Leong had pocketed the monies instead of banking them with various other law firms with whom he had revenue sharing arrangements. In addition, he had deceived a businessman by pretending that he could act for the latter even though Leong had no practising certificate.
Leong had pocketed the monies instead of banking them with various other law firms with whom he had revenue sharing arrangements. In addition, he had deceived a businessman by pretending that he could act for the latter even though Leong had no practising certificate.
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