Public Prosecutor v Paul Hendry Hartanto

JurisdictionSingapore
JudgeToh Yung Cheong
Judgment Date16 October 2008
Neutral Citation[2008] SGDC 305
CourtDistrict Court (Singapore)
Published date06 November 2008
Year2008
Plaintiff CounselMohan Singh (Customs Prosecutor)
Defendant CounselRama Kasi (Rajkumar & Rama)
Citation[2008] SGDC 305

16 October 2008

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong

1. The accused pleaded to the following two charges under the Customs Act for being involved in dealing with duty unpaid cigarettes:

DAC 33520/2008

You, Paul Hendry Hartanto, are charged that you, on or about the 25th day of July 2008, at about 6.15pm, inside the unit #04-05 of Blk 217 Henderson Road, Singapore, together with Abdul Rashid Bin Abdullah, Sahrudin Bin Madon, Ariono, and Juliana Tan, and in furtherance of the common intention of you all, were concerned in dealing with uncustomed goods, to wit, 1000 cartons x 200 sticks of Marlboro duty unpaid cigarettes and 239 cartons x 160 sticks of Gudang Garam Surya Kretek duty unpaid cigarettes, weighing 276.48 kilogrammes altogether, and on which excise duty of $97.320.96 was unpaid, with intent to defraud the Government of Excise duties thereon, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 128I(b) of the Customs Act (Cap 70) punishable under Section 128L(4) of the same Act, read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, Cap 224.

DAC 34576/2008

You, Paul Hendry Hartanto, are charged that you, on or about the 19th day of June 2008, at about 8.30pm, at the entrance of Block 25 Depot Lane, Singapore, together with one Abdul Rashid Bin Abdullah and in furtherance of the common intention of you all, were concerned in dealing with uncustomed goods, to wit, 686 cartons x 200 sticks and 80 cartons x 160 sticks of assorted brands duty unpaid cigarettes in Singapore registered vehicle no. YJ7530S, weighing 162.80 kilogrammes, and on which excise duty of $57,305.60 was unpaid, with intent to defraud the Government of Excise duties thereon, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 128I(b) of the Customs Act (Cap 70) punishable under Section 128L(4) of the same Act, read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, Cap 224.

2. In addition two charges concerning the unpaid Goods and Services Tax on the above cigarettes were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing. As the accused has appealed against his sentence, I will now set out the reasons for my decision.

Facts

3. This case concerns an Indonesian national who came to Singapore to assist in the smuggling of a large amount of duty unpaid cigarettes in two locations around Singapore.

DAC 34576/08 (“Depot Road offence”)

4. On 19 June 2008, at about 1.45pm, Customs officers commenced surveillance in the vicinity of Block 25 Depot Road. At about 8.20pm, they spotted two male Indonesians, namely Yuswarsyah and Jatopat Siregar, transferring nylon bags from a unit in the Block into a bonded truck with registration number YJ 7530S. The two Indonesians drove the truck to the main gate of Block 25 Depot Road where they were stopped by the customs officers. A search of the vehicle uncovered 162.80kg of duty unpaid cigarettes

5. Investigations revealed that the accused had imported two nylon bags containing towels with hidden duty unpaid cigarettes from Jakarta using a cargo clearance permit from Singapore Customs. He made arrangements for the shipping company to deliver the nylon bags to a unit in Blk 25 Depot Road and he had planned to sell the duty unpaid cigarettes to unknown buyers at $1,400 per 50 cartons. The accused’s accomplice, Abdul Rashid Bin Abdullah, had employed the two male Indonesians to load the nylon bags into a truck and to drive it to the main gate of Blk 25 Depot Road.

DAC 33520/2008 (“Henderson Road offence”)

6. About a month later on 25 July 2008, at about 2.00pm, Customs officers commenced surveillance in the vicinity of Block 217, Henderson Road. At about 2.30pm, they spotted the accused and one Juliana Tan using a pallet jack to move 5 “Jumbo bags” from the ground floor to unit #04-05. After moving the bags, the two persons left the place.

7. At about 3.30pm, Abdul Rashid Bin Abdullah, Sahrudin Bin Madon, and Ariono were seen entering the same unit. At about 6.15pm, the three persons exited the unit and Customs officers moved in to conduct a check on the three persons. Abdul Rashid admitted that he was retrieving duty unpaid cigarettes concealed inside the 5 “Jumbo bags.” The accused and one Juliana Tan were found to be in the vicinity of the block and they were subsequently arrested. The unit was searched and 276.48kg of duty unpaid cigarettes were found.

8. Investigations revealed that the accused and Juliana Tan made arrangements for the 5 “Jumbo bags” containing the duty unpaid cigarettes to be delivered to Blk 217 Henderson Road. The accused and Juliana Tan told Abdul Rashid to retrieve the duty unpaid cigarettes from the “Jumbo bags” where they were mixed in with plastic bits and to repack them into cardboard boxes. The two other persons (who are also named in the charge) that Abdul Rashid was arrested with were employed by him to assist in the repacking.

Prescribed Sentence

9. For DAC 33520/08, the accused was liable to a fine of between $1,459,814.40 to $1,946,419.20 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

10. For DAC 34576/08, the accused was liable to a fine...

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