Man Sentenced by Singapore State Courts to Pay Fine Over Failure to Keep Bills of Lading

Teo Song Cheong, a Singaporean national, was sentenced by the State Courts to pay a $7,000 fine for failing to keep the bills of lading for exported goods in 2021, Singapore Customs announced June 28. Teo is the director of freight forwarding company Maple-Gold Pte. and local transportation service firm Akarui Pte. He pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to retain trade documents following Singapore Customs' investigations into his companies' Cargo Clearance Permits used for cigarettes shipped to Australia. Checks of the shipments in Australia discovered plastic film rolls instead of the cigarettes.

The investigation found that Akarui told a warehouse operator to state the port of discharge of the cigarettes was Sydney. Maple-Gold's customer instead gave a shipping note to Maple-Gold listing the port of discharge as Melbourne. Teo did not fix the error in the permit. Singapore Customs then requested Teo to turn over bills of lading for 14 cigarette shipments. Teo was unable to provide the documents despite a legal requirement to keep them for at least five years.

“Traders and forwarders should exercise due diligence to ensure that the imports and exports they are handling are legitimate and avoid dubious transactions that can be exploited for transnational smuggling," said Assistant Director-General Yeo Sew Meng. "They are also reminded to maintain the required import and export documents for Customs verification. Stern actions will be taken against errant traders to maintain Singapore’s reputation as a trusted global trade hub."