Duty-Unpaid Beer Tax-Evasion Sentence 2026

On 4 September 2026, the State Courts sentenced Han Xiaoyang, a 47-year-old Chinese national, after he pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraudulent evasion of duty under the Customs Act. Singapore Customs said the charges involved approximately S$60,127 in duty evaded on 28,236 bottles of duty-unpaid beer. Han was fined S$560,000 and, because he did not pay the fine, was to serve 164 days’ imprisonment in default (Singapore Customs, 4 September 2026).

Scheme and investigation

Singapore Customs described Han as the mastermind of a scheme that imported beer from China through false declarations. He used Singapore-incorporated Wan Changya International Pte Ltd and directed its general manager, Tong Baobao, to coordinate the local handling. The beer was declared to a Chinese freight forwarder as non-dutiable items such as food or industrial machinery, then stored in Singapore for later delivery to customers (Singapore Customs, 4 September 2026).

Customs officers discovered the operation during a 19 November 2025 operation at an industrial building along Tagore Lane. They found 4,044 bottles in an initial inspection and later seized another 31,016 bottles during follow-up searches, for 35,060 bottles in the operation narrative. The seven charges at Han’s sentencing concerned 28,236 bottles; the figures therefore describe different evidential scopes and should not be silently treated as the same count (Singapore Customs, 4 September 2026).

Accomplice and legal boundary

Tong was sentenced on 4 May 2026 after pleading guilty to three fraudulent-evasion-of-duty charges involving approximately S$39,517. He was fined S$322,000 and served 80 days’ imprisonment in default after not paying the fine. Singapore Customs said the court also took additional duty and GST charges into consideration for both men (Singapore Customs, 4 September 2026).

Under the Customs Act 1960 and GST Act 1993, Singapore Customs states that buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing or dealing in duty-unpaid liquor are serious offences. On conviction, offenders may be fined up to 20 times the duty and GST evaded and may also face imprisonment of up to 12 months; the statutory maximum is not a prediction of the sentence in this case (Singapore Customs, 4 September 2026).