LIES: 'Mr Iras, I didn't make that much money...'
HE sells about 4,000 curry puffs a day, more if it's a rainy day.
Mr Looi outside the court. -- Picture: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Looi San Cheng, 63, said this candidly to a newspaper last year about his business, Tip Top Curry Puff, in a coffee shop at Block 722, Ang Mo Kio Central.
This and other media reports led to his undoing, after the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) was alerted to them.
Yesterday, Looi became the first hawker to be jailed for tax evasion.
He pleaded guilty to two charges under the Income Tax Act. He had saved about $65,400 in taxes for 2005 and 2006 by underdeclaring his income.
According to court papers, Iras got its first tip-off in September last year that Looi did not file his income tax returns, from an informant who had seen him being interviewed on television about going to China to sell curry puffs.
Later that month, a second informant provided Iras with newspaper reports and other details of Looi's business. The various reports suggested that he sold 4,000 to 5,000 curry puffs daily.
Looi had gained media attention after Tip Top was cited by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at last year's National Day Rally for its entrepreneurial spirit in expanding into China.
He was charged after Iras's investigations revealed that he had understated his profits by about $1.05million from 2001 to last year.
Looi was the first hawker to be taken to court for tax evasion offences, said Iras spokesman Chin Li Fen.
Hawkers found to have evaded tax have earlier been allowed to compound the offences and pay a fine.
Ms Chin said Iras took Looi to court because it took a serious view of such offences and wanted to send a deterrent message to other hawkers.
'While Iras believes the vast majority of taxpayers are law-abiding and contribute their fair share of taxes, strong deterrent action will be taken against the errant ones,' she said.
'Hawker and stallholders are advised to make truthful and accurate declaration in their income tax returns.'
JAIL & FINE
District Judge Aedit Abdullah sentenced Looi to two weeks' jail on each charge, to run concurrently.
He also ordered Looi to pay a penalty of $196,200 - three times the taxes he dodged for the two offences.
Four other charges were earlier withdrawn after Looi paid a penalty of about $291,000 to compound them.
He could have been jailed up to three years and fined up to $10,000 on each charge.
After Iras launched investigations into Looi's business, a raid was conducted on his stall and his Serangoon Avenue 2 HDB flat.
Investigations showed that to evade taxes, he would even declare losses in some years when he was making big bucks.
He stated that he lost about $37,200 in 2001 when he had made $145,000 in profits.
He stated he made only $6,000 profits in 2004 when he had earned $200,000.
Last year, he declared he earned only $18,200 in 2005 when he actually made $236,000.
The total taxes evaded over the six years was more than $160,000.
In his mitigation, Looi said he regretted his actions and claimed that he had listened to the wrong advice.
Speaking in Mandarin through a court interpreter, Looi, who was unrepresented, asked for a non-custodial sentence as he suffers from high blood pressure and his business needed him.
But Iras prosecutor Sinnadurai Maniam urged the court for a jail term, in consideration of the magnitude of the taxes evaded.
He also asked for a deterrent sentence to send a strong message that tax evasion would not be tolerated.
Looi, who had previous criminal offences including illegal gambling and theft, cut a forlorn figure after the interpreter told him that he was sentenced to jail.
But he showed some relief when told that it would be only for two weeks.
Looi asked: 'Only two weeks?'
His cousin, Mr David Leong, managing director of a human resource consulting firm, said Looi was devastated by his legal woes.
He said Looi, who has two children, was worried at the prospect of spending time in jail.
Said Mr Leong, 37: 'Imagine you're in your 60s, you've been working and earning... and you find yourself in this situation.
'This is a lesson to everyone not to evade taxes.'
The Straits Times reported in August last year that Looi's son, Chong Wee, had taken the family business to China in 2005, with outlets opened in Shenyang and Harbin.
The elder Looi, who founded Tip Top, was later interviewed and quoted as saying that he sells about 4,000 curry puffs daily.
The Indonesian-born Looi had added, with a laugh: 'More if it's a rainy day.'
The price of each puff was raised from 90 cents to $1 after his business was mentioned in PM Lee's speech.
But neither the price increase nor his tax evasion woes have deterred his regular customers.
The Iras spokesman declined to reveal how Iras investigated Looi's business.
But a 2005 report in The Business Times said that if Iras suspects a hawker's declared income to be unusually low, an investigator may conduct a 'field audit' by checking out the business for a day or two to work out the actual earnings.
A full investigation is ordered if discrepancies are found between the declared and actual incomes.
The Straits Times reported last April that eight individuals and four companies with businesses in hawker centres, coffeeshops and food courts were under probe by Iras for tax evasion offences.
It's unclear if Looi was one of them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACTUAL NET PROFIT
2000 $138,139
2001 $145,047
2002 $176,998
2003 $161,205
2004 $199,960
2005 $236,140
Total: $1,057,489
WHAT HE DECLARED
$10,790
-$37,209
-$222
$5,213
$6,080
$18,204
$2,856
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Customers still buying puffs
IT was business as usual yesterday afternoon when The New Paper visited the Tip Top Curry Puff stall.
Regular customers were busy snapping up the piping-hot puffs, each at $1, with around 60 being sold in less than 10 minutes.
For a small stall which operates from 9.30am to 9.30pm daily, that works out to more than 4,000 being sold everyday.
This was a far cry from the 500 to 600 puffs that Looi used to sell at 35cents each in 1980 when he first opened the stall.
In 1976, he first started selling curry puffs at his Marine Parade bakery, with a secret recipe from Indonesia, which includes 18 herbs and spices, and fresh potatoes from the Netherlands.
In 2002, Looi spoke to The Straits Times when he took part in the Singapore Food Festival.
He said: 'My stall has lots of history. It's 22 years old and people come from all over the world to buy the curry puffs.'
His regular customers, such as MrWilliam Ng, couldn't agree more.
The despatch rider, 34, took time from work to buy 25 puffs for his colleagues yesterday.
He said he loves the puffs for its crispy skin, generous filling and unique flavour.
Five other customers agreed.
GOOD FOOD HARD TO FIND
Mr Ng said he was unaware of Looi's offences and jail sentence.
Will he continue to support the stall, knowing that Looi had falsely declared his income so that he could avoid paying taxes?
Mr Ng said: 'Good food is hard to find in Singapore. If we stop buying, he may stop selling. It'll be such a waste.'
Similarly, a regular customer, MrSoh, said: 'It doesn't matter to me. I like the food.'
Mr Tan Koon Hua, 55, who runs a muah chee and tutu cake stall next to Looi's stall, said this will serve as a reminder to other hawkers like himself to be truthful and honest in filing tax returns.
Looi's family declined to comment when approached at his flat at Serangoon Avenue 2 yesterday evening.
taken:
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...44071,00.html? 
