Chong Chee Kin
Sat, Oct 06, 2007
The Straits Times
OVER six years, Looi San Cheng made $1.06 million selling his
famous Tip Top curry puffs from his Ang Mo Kio hawker stall.
But when it came to giving the taxman his due, Looi lied and
declared profits of only $2,800 between 2001 and last year.
Yesterday, Looi became the first hawker to be convicted and jailed
for tax evasion.
Looi, who will spend two weeks in jail for two of the six charges
under the Income Tax Act, was also ordered to pay a penalty of
$196,000 - three times the amount of taxes he dodged in 2005 and
last year.
The remaining four charges were withdrawn after Looi paid a further
$291,000 penalty to compound them.
Looi could have been jailed up to three years.
The 63-year-old founder of the family-run business made headlines
in August last year on a much happier note.
Tip Top was cited by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National
Day Rally speech as a small local company having made inroads
overseas, with outlets in Harbin and Shenyang in China.
Looi had started humbly, selling the snacks at his Marine Parade
bakery in 1976. They became so popular that he moved to his present
location three years later.
A different picture was painted of Looi yesterday by Inland Revenue
Authority of Singapore (Iras) prosecutor Sinnadurai Maniam.
He told the court that Looi had wilfully made false entries in his
income tax returns for six years.
Following a tip-off in September last year, Iras raided Looi's
Housing Board flat in Serangoon Avenue 2 and his Ang Mo Kio Central
stall.
An audit of the accounts revealed the discrepancies.
It turned out that while Looi claimed he sold 4,000 to 5,000 curry
puffs a day at $1 each, the figures did not match the statement of
accounts for the stall.
He earned nett profits of $138,000 to $236,000 annually in those
six years.
But Looi, in his tax returns for those years, declared that, at
best, he made only $18,000 in nett, or taxable, profits.
In his 2002 income tax returns, he stated that he made a loss of
$37,209 in 2001 when in fact, he made a profit of $145,000.
Urging the court to send a strong message that tax evasion would
not be tolerated, Mr Sinnadurai pointed to the substantial amount
of taxes which Looi had dodged.
In the six-year period, he under-declared his takings by about $1
million.
In a letter addressed to District Judge Aedit Abdullah, Looi, who
was unrepresented, said he was remorseful and had followed the
wrong advice from his bookkeeper.
He had been cooperative with the taxman and opened his books to
them because he had 'nothing to hide'.
Looi was packed off to jail yesterday, but business hardly stopped
at the Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 stall, with customers coming from as far
as Sengkang and Yishun for the tasty pastry's famed curry filling
and crust.
Signs of a crackdown on hawker tax-cheats came earlier this year,
when The Straits Times had reported that about a dozen food
businesses were hauled up by the Iras for under-declaring their
incomes.
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