SINGAPORE: The 35-year-old then credited the refunds into four of his credit card using the electronic tourist refund scheme (eTRS). The scheme does away with the need to fill up paper forms. On Friday (Feb 9), he was sentenced to 18 months’ jail after admitting to 10 counts of fraudulently obtaining GST refunds of $30,762 under eTRS. He was also ordered to pay a penalty of $92,285, three times the amount of tax defrauded. Li, who is no longer with Singapore Customs, was deployed at the GST Refund Inspection Counter at Changi Airport to process GST refund claims. Tourists can claim refunds when departing from Singapore. In the course of his work, he was presented with claims for GST refunds. He would reject some of them, but keep the details for later. When the opportunity arose, he would use the details to electronically process the GST refunds into his or his friend’s credit card. Li had his friend apply for the credit card, claiming as a public servant, he needed it to hide the fact that he was running a business on the side. After he secured the credit card, the friend handed it to Li. In all, Li used the eTRS computer system to fraudulently obtain GST refunds on nine occasions, from Dec 11, 2011 to Aug 6, 2012. Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore senior tax prosecutor Norman Teo said if the eTRS did not show the tourist’s details, Li would either process the eTRS ticket with other eTRS tickets that had details of the tourist, or enter his former girlfriend’s details as the “tourist” claiming the refund.
