Jul 14, 2010
Jailed for false claims
<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start --> A FINANCE manager was jailed two months on Wednesday for falsifying tax invoices and another two weeks for evading paying tax on $1.2 million between 2005 and 2008. Madeleine Foo Tiew Heng, 64, pleaded guilty last week to three charges of falsifying invoices and to two charges of tax evasion.
A district court then heard that Foo was the only person handling the accounts of Alphalog, a supply chain management services firm which was set up by Foo's nephew Juan Hui, together with his wife and his mother in 2002. Two years later, Foo started Vida Enterprise with Juan Hui to do telecommunications business.
As a new company, Vida enjoyed tax benefits, which meant it would not be taxed for the first $100,000 in profits for the first three years. Realising that tax paid by both companies would decrease if some of Alphalog's profits were recorded as Vida's profits, as long it did not breach the $100,000 cap, she then billed Alphalog for fictitious management fees.
Also in court was Alphalog's managing director Juan Hui, who had pleaded guilty to two charges of tax evasion. The firm was fined a total of $14,000. Both Foo and Aplhalog also have to pay a penalty of $2111,100 each,which is three times the amount of tax evaded. The maximum punishment for falsifying documents is a seven year jail term and a $10,000 fine; for tax evasion, it is a three-year jail term and a $10,000 fine.
