SINGAPORE – A home-grown engineering firm has won a High Court suit against two mobile phone trading companies and a businessman over a fraudulent GST scheme that left it nearly $1.75 million out of pocket.
BP Projects, a Singapore civil engineering contractor, successfully sued One Wind and Jueltech Trading – both wholesale mobile phone and telecommunications equipment firms – as well as Mr Ong Kian Meng, over what the court found was a scheme involving false representations linked to GST refund claims.
According to ACRA BizFile records checked by The Straits Times, One Wind and Jueltech Trading were both registered at the same Edgedale Plains address and linked through Mr Ong Kian Meng and his girlfriend, Ms Yeo Sock Ping Adeline, who was the sole shareholder of One Wind and the sole director and shareholder of Jueltech trading.
In a written judgment issued on May 14, High Court Judge Alex Wong described the case as involving a “common transgression” in Singapore’s goods and services tax system, referring to a recurring form of tax fraud in which companies collect GST or claim GST refunds improperly, causing losses to state revenue.
The judge said the arrangement had “left the claimant, BP Projects, out of pocket”.
The court heard that BP Projects director Chua Boon Pin had known Mr Ong Kian Meng and his brother Ong Kian Seng for years before they approached him around 2015 with what appeared to be a profitable export business involving smartphones and IT products.
Under the arrangement, BP Projects would source overseas buyers in Vietnam and Malaysia, purchase the products from One Wind and Jueltech Trading with GST added, and then export the goods overseas.
Since exported goods are generally not subjected to GST, companies can usually apply to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) for refunds of the GST paid earlier in the supply chain.
The court found that Mr Ong Kian Meng had assured BP Projects that the companies were “legitimate companies which engaged in lawful business dealings” and which complied with all IRAS rules related to GST payments.
He also said that BP Projects “would have no issues claiming GST refunds,” and claimed that other companies had successfully taken part in similar arrangements without encountering problems with IRAS.
Between November 2015 and February 2016, BP Projects conducted multiple export transactions and initially received GST refunds totalling about $485,000.
But in February 2016, IRAS informed the company that it was conducting an audit and withholding further GST refunds pending investigations.
According to BP Projects’ evidence, when its representatives questioned the defendants about the audit, they were told there was “no need to worry” because IRAS was “just doing a (routine) check”.
However, the full scale of the fallout emerged years later.
In January 2024, IRAS disallowed GST refund claims amounting to $1,747,483.65 after concluding that One Wind and Jueltech Trading were part of a “missing trader fraud” arrangement.
It is a scheme where a company collects GST from buyers but disappears or fails to pay the tax to IRAS, while another company further down the chain claims GST refunds from the Government.
According to material cited in the judgment, this results in “a loss of government revenue”.
Justice Wong found that Mr Ong Kian Meng was more deeply involved in the arrangement than he had claimed.
Although he portrayed himself as merely introducing a business opportunity, the judge noted that One Wind and Jueltech Trading consistently earned mark-ups from the transactions, suggesting he could “effectively influence or even determine the prices at which the products were sold”.
The judge also found that he had sufficient knowledge of export GST procedures to “coach” BP Projects on how the arrangement worked.
In one exchange cited in the judgment, Mr Ong Kian Meng told the court that he had never heard any feedback that the businesses he worked with could not claim GST from IRAS.
Justice Wong said the statement supported BP Projects’ case that Mr Ong had effectively assured the company that there would be no issues obtaining GST refunds.
The court ultimately held that One Wind, Jueltech Trading and Mr Ong Kian Meng were liable for fraudulent misrepresentation – meaning they made false statements that BP Projects relied on, causing it financial loss.
Justice Wong ordered the three defendants to compensate BP Projects $1,747,483.65.
However, claims against Mr Ong Kian Seng and Ms Yeo were dismissed.
The court also rejected BP Projects’ separate allegation that the defendants had worked together in an unlawful conspiracy to cause harm.
