Former customs officer rejected GST claims by tourists, only to claim refunds for herself
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Her job was to help tourists process their Goods and Services Tax (GST) claims at the Changi Airport. But Pang Yeow Biah rejected some legitimate claims and kept the receipts and documents in order to obtain the refunds for herself.
On Friday (April 20), the 61-year-old former Singapore Customs officer was sentenced to 16 months’ jail and fined S$24,906.15 for fraudulently obtaining more than S$8,000 in GST refunds.
Court documents showed that Pang rejected claims by tourists on nine occasions between 2012 and 2014 when she was stationed at the airport’s GST Refund Inspection Counter.
Instead of returning the supporting documents and receipts to those tourists, Pang kept them for herself and used her computer, four of her colleagues’ unattended terminals, as well as a self-help kiosk to fraudulently process those claims.
Once the refunds were approved, Pang would dispose of the paper trail, such as the electronic tourist refund scheme (eTRS) tickets and the notification slips. The approved GST refunds were channeled to two credit cards under the name of her son’s then girlfriend, Ms Foo Kit Yee.
Pang admitted on Friday that the GST refunds were used to offset her own credit card expenses and pay for purchases such as air tickets.
For the offence of wilful intent to obtain fraudulent GST refunds, Pang could have been jailed for up to seven years, and fined another S$10,000 on top of the penalty of three times the amount of refund wrongfully obtained.
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said in a statement on Friday that the authorities took a “zero tolerance approach” to such offences, and assured that measures were in place to detect suspicious claims and fraudulent activities.
