SG is money-laundering hub

[LITTLEREDDOT]

FinCEN leaks: DBS, CIMB and Deutsche among banks in S'pore that handled about $6 billion in suspicious transactions​

Singapore received about US$3 billion and sent US$1.5 billion in 1,781 suspicious transactions, within 20 years. PHOTO: ST FILE

Aw Cheng Wei
China Correspondent


SEP 21, 2020

SINGAPORE - A number of banks in Singapore handled about US$4.5 billion (S$6.13 billion) in suspicious transactions between 2000 and 2017, with DBS Bank, CIMB Bank and Deutsche Bank among those that processed the largest sums of such funds here.
This is according to the findings of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on leaked files, comprising so-called suspicious activity reports, from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the United States.
The consortium noted that, within almost 20 years, Singapore received about US$3 billion and sent US$1.5 billion in 1,781 suspicious transactions.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) told The Straits Times on Monday that it is aware that Singapore banks were mentioned in media reports on suspicious transaction reports filed with FinCEN.
Although such suspicious transaction reports do not imply that the transactions are illicit, the authority takes such reports very seriously, said a spokesman, adding that Singapore's regulatory framework to combat money laundering meets international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force.
"MAS is closely studying the information in these media reports, and will take appropriate action based on the outcome of our review," she added.
In all, the ICIJ reported on Sunday (Sept 20) that the files contained information about more than US$2 trillion worth of transactions between 1999 and 2017, which were flagged by internal compliance departments of financial institutions as suspicious.

Experts told The Straits Times that filing suspicious activity reports do not translate to wrongdoing. Furthermore, banks and financial institutions are obliged to flag unusual transactions so that regulators can follow up on them, they added.
For example, an account which typically sees small transactions getting an unusually large deposit of money might pop up on banks' radars, the noted.
Alternatively, if bank customer who has $1 million in his account decides to transfer all his money to another bank - such a transaction might also show up as "suspicious".

Associate Professor Lawrence Loh at National University of Singapore Business School said: "The revelation so far has been more focused on the movements rather than the applications of the funds.
"In fact, there may be a wide spectrum of possibilities for the applications, including those relating to corruption or even as drastic as criminal support," he added.
In Singapore, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) publishes the number of suspicious transaction reports it received in its annual report. The CAD is the police unit that deals with white-collar crime.

The CAD's Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office received 32,660 reports in 2018, down 8 per cent from 35,471 reports in 2017, according to CAD's 2018 annual report.
CAD noted that banks filed the most number of suspicious transaction reports - 16,314 - in 2018, followed by the 6,510 reports filed by casinos and 4,823 reports filed by moneychangers and remittance agents.
The consortium on Sunday released a list of banks in Singapore involved in the allegedly illicit transfers, based on more than 2,100 reports amounting to some $35 billion, that were filed by about 90 financial institutions. A report may contain multiple transactions.
The list "displays cases where sufficient details about both the originator and beneficiary banks were available, and is designed to illustrate how potentially dirty money flows from country to country around the world, via US-based banks", said the ICIJ.
The consortium reported that five global banks appeared most often in the leaked documents - HSBC Bank, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and Bank of New York Mellon.
In Singapore, DBS Bank was listed as having sent US$596.8 million and received US$228.3 million in 461 suspicious transactions between 2000 and 2017.
CIMB Bank was noted to have sent US$250.4 million and received US$34.3 million in 294 suspicious transactions, while Deutsche Bank sent US$224.3 million and received US$62 million in 19 suspicious transactions within the same period.
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A DBS spokesman told ST that the bank has "zero tolerance for bad actors abusing the financial system" and is firm on collaborating with the authorities in the seizure of funds and disruption of criminal networks.
"Outside of sanctions on names or specific account freezes, it is generally very difficult to delay or intercept money in transit given the impact on legitimate business, so the normal process - which happens behind the scenes - involves subsequent investigations to establish suspicion, based on which the necessary action is taken," he added.
CIMB Singapore "operates in compliance with the anti-money laundering laws, regulations and guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore", a bank spokesman said in response to queries. He added that the bank is investigating the matter.
Deutsche Bank noted that it has invested billions of dollars to more support the authorities in this effort. "Naturally, this leads to increased detection levels," it said in a statement.
The German bank has "devoted significant resources to strengthening our controls and we are very focused on meeting our responsibilities and obligations", it added.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

S'pore branch of Swiss bank fined $1m for lapses in money laundering, terror financing curbs: MAS​

The Singapore branch of Bank J. Safra Sarasin has been ordered to appoint an independent party to validate the effectiveness of its measures. PHOTO: REUTERS

Ang Qing

APR 14, 2021

SINGAPORE - The Singapore branch of a Swiss-based private bank has been fined $1 million for failing to comply with measures to counter money-laundering and terrorist financing.
The penalty was imposed on Bank J. Safra Sarasin (BJS) for breaches between March 2014 and September 2018.
These included failing to establish the source of its customers' funds by appropriate and reasonable means.
In many cases, BJS relied on customers' representations without corroboration.
It also failed to adequately inquire into unusually large or abnormal patterns of customer transactions that had no obvious economic purpose.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Wednesday (April 14) that the lapses arose during the process of signing on customers and in the monitoring of their business relations, which put BJS at higher risk of being used as a conduit for illicit activities.
BJS has been ordered to appoint an independent party to validate the effectiveness of its measures and report the findings to the MAS.

The regulator noted the penalty amount took into consideration BJS' actions to address deficiencies that it identified.
Breaches of measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing carry a maximum fine of $1 million for each offence.
The MAS's assistant managing director of policy, payments and financial crime, Ms Loo Siew Yee, said: "Financial institutions engaging in private banking business must be vigilant in guarding against the risk of dealing with illicit wealth.
"Given the potential complexity of private bank clients' profiles, it is particularly important that clients' representations regarding their source of wealth and funds are scrutinised and corroborated by objective evidence."

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

$69 million in suspicious transactions in S'pore intercepted by authorities since 2019​

More than $19 million of incoming funds were blocked through the banks' proactive identification of suspicious accounts. PHOTO: ST FILE

David Sun
Correspondent

APR 27, 2021

SINGAPORE - About $69 million transferred through suspicious accounts here has been intercepted by the authorities since 2019.
The figure was revealed in a keynote speech on Tuesday (April 27) by Ms Loo Siew Yee, the assistant managing director for Policy, Payments and Financial Crime at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Speaking at the 12th Annual Anti-Money Laundering and Anti Financial Crime Conference, organised by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, Ms Loo said the successful interceptions were a result of collaborative efforts by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), MAS, and the key banks here.
The collaboration was made possible through the Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Industry Partnership, or ACIP, which is a private-public partnership established in April 2017.
"Since 2019, CAD and MAS have also worked closely with key banks, through the ACIP partnership, on specific cases and targets where intelligence and leads are shared through a hub-and-spoke model for the purposes of surfacing new leads and conducting further analytics," she said.
Ms Loo added that of the successfully intercepted $69 million, more than $19 million of incoming funds were blocked through the banks' proactive identification of suspicious accounts.
In her speech, she also touched on how financial institutions and MAS can work together and smarter in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.

She noted that close collaboration and effective use of data analytics have led to key successes in thwarting financial crime, such as the interception of more than $6 million in a scam in March last year by the Anti-Scam Centre.
It was also revealed that MAS has been paying closer attention to virtual assets and digital payment tokens, which pose higher risks given the speed, anonymity and cross-border nature of the transactions they facilitate.

"Since the introduction of the Payment Services Act to regulate digital payment token service providers, MAS has stepped up our efforts to set clear supervisory expectations of AML/CFT controls, and enhance our surveillance of the sector," she said.
"Our in-house surveillance efforts now enable us to pro-actively detect suspicious networks and unlicensed activities for further supervisory and law enforcement actions."
She urged greater collaboration between the financial institutions and the authorities to effectively thwart bad actors.
Addressing stakeholders, she said: "Let me encourage you again to persevere in strengthening your financial institution's AML/CFT effectiveness, by effectively leveraging data analytics and keeping abreast of emerging risks. As professionals, I hope you will individually work to break new ground in these efforts."

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

MAS fines Vistra Trust $1.1 million for failures in anti-money laundering controls​

An inspection by MAS found that Vistra Trust had committed serious breaches of AML/CFT requirements for trust companies. PHOTO: ST FILE

Sue-Ann Tan
Business Correspondent

JAN 20, 2022

SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has slapped a composition penalty of $1.1 million on a financial services firm for failing to comply with requirements on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
An inspection by MAS from April to June 2019 found that Vistra Trust (Singapore), had committed serious breaches of AML/CFT requirements for trust companies, placing it at a higher risk of being used as a conduit for illicit activities, the regulator said on Thursday (Jan 20).
The firm's business activities include the creation of trusts and provision of trustee services. Trusts enable third parties, or trustees, to hold assets for the benefit of beneficiaries.
"The failures were particularly in relation to higher risk trust relevant parties, such as the settlor, the beneficiary, the trustee and any person who has power over the disposition of a trust property," MAS said.
It added that the firm did not implement adequate procedures to determine if the relevant parties presented a higher risk for money laundering or terrorism financing.
This resulted in the firm failing to identify certain higher risk accounts or subjecting these accounts to enhanced customer due diligence measures, MAS said.
The authority has directed the company to appoint an independent party to see if its measures to remedy the situation are adequate and effective. The party has to report its findings back to MAS.

"The company has paid the penalty and taken remedial actions to address the risk management deficiencies that led to the breaches," MAS added.
Ms Loo Siew Yee, MAS assistant managing director for policy, payments and financial crime, said: "Financial institutions play a critical role in guarding against the risk of illicit financing activities in Singapore.
"A specific area of risk relates to trust structures being abused by criminals to conceal illicit proceeds."
She added that MAS will take strong actions against any financial institution that fails to meet the regulatory standards for anti-money laundering.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

2 years' jail for woman who acted as money mule for scam proceeds​

Dominic Low

MAR 31, 2022

SINGAPORE - A 38-year-old woman has been sentenced to two years' jail over her role in a money-laundering syndicate that handled the criminal proceeds of Nigerian scammers.
Aminorindah Haeruman was one of the money mules in the group, which had helped the scammers move more than $1.35 million out of Singapore.
She pleaded guilty on Thursday (March 31) to two counts of conspiring with Rohaiza Alap - her 47-year-old former sister-in-law - to receive criminal proceeds using her bank accounts.
Aminorindah also admitted to a charge of instigating another woman to use her bank accounts for a similar purpose.
Five other similar charges were taken into consideration by Principal District Judge Toh Yung Cheong during sentencing on Thursday.
Aminorindah had been recruited by Rohaiza to receive money in her bank accounts from a group of Nigerian scammers based in Malaysia.
She would retain about 7 per cent to 8 per cent of the sums received before handing the remaining money to Rohaiza, said the police in a statement on Thursday.

Despite the Commercial Affairs Department advising her not to provide her bank account details to others or to receive funds on behalf of others, Aminorindah continued to work with Rohaiza.
She also recruited two other people to receive criminal proceeds using their bank accounts.
They would withdraw the money and hand the cash to Aminorindah, who then gave them a part of it as commission, said the police.
Court records show that Aminorindah's jail term has been deferred to April 14.
Rohaiza, who provided 25 bank accounts to receive criminal proceeds from the scammers, was sentenced to jail for seven years and four weeks last August.
Another money mule involved in the operation, Rohaizad Mahat, was jailed for seven months in December 2019.
In their statement, the police said they take a serious view on scams and related money-laundering activities.
"The police will not hesitate to take stern enforcement action against individuals who commit these offences and persons who facilitate these offences by knowingly allowing their bank accounts to be used by scammers to receive monies, hide their tracks, and launder benefits from criminal conduct," they added.
For each of her offences, Aminorindah could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $500,000, or both.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Jail for former company director who allowed money laundering of nearly $50m​

Wallace Woon

JUN 3, 2022

SINGAPORE - He was appointed a director of the company but was not involved in any aspect of its management and affairs.
On Friday (June 3), 38-year-old Eng Cheng Song was sentenced to four weeks in jail and disqualified from being a company director for five years, after the company was used to launder some US$33.5 million (S$46 million) of fraud proceeds.
In a statement on Friday, the police said he was found guilty of failing to exercise reasonable diligence in the discharge of his duties as a director of a company.
Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department revealed that he was one of the directors of Enston Corporate Services, a Singapore-based accounting firm which provides corporate secretarial services.
Eng had a standing arrangement with his business partner in Enston, for him to be appointed as the resident director for companies that foreign clients wanted to incorporate in Singapore.
In April 2019, one such company, Phima, appointed Eng as its resident director to help incorporate the company on behalf of a foreign client with Enston's assistance.
Control of Phima and its bank accounts was relinquished to the foreign director by Eng who also did not monitor the transactions in the bank accounts.

As a result of this failure to exercise reasonable diligence in the discharge of his duties as Phima's director, Phima received about US$33.5 million of fraud proceeds from a foreign company between November and December 2019.
Any person who commits a breach of Section 157(1) of the Companies Act can be jailed for up to 12 months or fined $5,000.
The statement added that company directors who fail to exercise reasonable diligence in the discharge of their directors' duties run the risk of allowing their companies to facilitate the retention or control of benefits derived from criminal conduct.
The police take a serious view of the offence and will not relent in taking offenders to task.
Individuals should not be a director of a company when they have limited or no oversight or control, as the company may be used for illegal purposes such as the laundering of criminal proceeds.
A search on business registry Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority showed that Phima, which was registered in April 2019, has been struck off.
Enston is shown to still be in operation.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Printing firm director jailed 9 months and fined $250k for tax evasion, money laundering​

Osmond Chia


JUN 21, 2022

SINGAPORE - To evade taxes, the director of a silk printing firm misreported his firm's earnings and asked customers to pay in cash to avoid accounting for them.
He then used the money from the understated sales to make downpayments for a condominium unit and a vehicle, as well as repay a loan for his HDB flat.
On Monday (June 20), Loh Chia Wei, 48, was jailed for nine months and ordered to pay penalties totalling $253,195. He had earlier pleaded guilty to multiple charges for offences that include tax evasion, money laundering and cheating.
The police and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) said in a statement on Tuesday that Loh had conducted cash sales with Print Orient's customers without accounting for them in the firm's income tax and GST returns.
He deliberately did so to evade taxes, and was undercharged by some $180,000 for goods and services tax and corporate income taxes between 2011 and 2017, said Iras.
In August 2013, Loh also instructed his staff to alter inventory figures to inflate his company's profits in its management accounts for the financial year.
He then e-mailed the management accounts containing the inflated profits to Maybank in an attempt to cheat it into approving Print Orient's loan application, said Iras.

Loh was also convicted of money laundering for using the understated sales of Print Orient to repay the loan for his HDB flat and the downpayments for his condominium and vehicle.
These expenses amounted to more than $400,000, said Iras.
It was not mentioned how his offences came to light.
Those who evade taxes can face jail time and penalties of up to four times the amount of tax evaded, Iras added.
The punishment for money laundering and cheating is jail of up to 10 years and a fine.
Iras urged businesses and individuals to come clean on any past tax mistakes, which will be seen as a mitigating factor when considering action to be taken.
It added that a reward based on 15 per cent - capped at $100,000 - of the tax recovered will be given to informants if the information and documents provided lead to a recovery of tax that would otherwise have been lost.
Informants' identities will be kept confidential, Iras added.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Company director let stranger launder $284k through firm’s bank accounts​

Aqil Hamzah

Nov 4, 2022

SINGAPORE - A 55-year-old man was sentenced to 15 months’ jail and a $5,000 fine on Thursday for his role in a money laundering scheme where he was the director of a company that received more than US$200,000 ($284,000) in criminal proceeds.
Leo Shiou Juanq had registered a company – Oasis Mg – and opened two corporate bank accounts sometime between August and September 2018.
He had done so at the behest of an unidentified male known as Max, said the police. The man had contacted Leo in May that same year, offering loans and a way to earn money without having to borrow it from him.
Although Leo was the director of the company, the bank accounts were under Max’s control after Leo gave away bank tokens, automated teller machine (ATM) cards, as well as cheque books associated with the two accounts.
“Between March and May 2019, criminal proceeds totalling US$204,901 were channelled through the accounts. The criminal proceeds originated from several victims, who had made the transfers believing that they were purchasing investment shares,” said the police.
In their statement, the police said that Leo had received a warning in early 2019 to refrain from giving up control of his bank accounts to others.
He also received multiple fund recall requests from banks regarding suspicious transactions using Oasis’ bank accounts, but Leo continued to act on Max’s instructions and chose not to report the matter or close the accounts.

For facilitating criminal conduct and failing to exercise reasonable diligence as the director of a company, Leo was convicted of offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (CDSA), and the Companies Act.
For the CDSA offence, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years or fined $500,000, or a combination of both.
The penalty for the Companies Act offence carries a jail term of up to 12 months and/or a fine of $5,000.
Leo was also charged under the Moneylenders Act for his involvement in a separate matter, which was taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
The police take a serious view of anyone involved in laundering proceeds of crime, and offenders are dealt with firmly.
In their statement, they reminded the public to reject requests from strangers to register companies or open bank accounts, as they could be held accountable if the accounts are used for criminal activities. They also urge company directors to be mindful of their duties and exercise due diligence.

 

[laksaboy]

Let's recap what this wise Tiong has said about Sinkieland.

 

[mudhatter]

just tip of the iceberg.

it's an infamous money laundering and tax evasion hub

 

[blackmondy]

Our Leeconomy is highly dependent on dirty money from abroad.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Singapore saw record $448 billion inflow of new money in 2021: MAS data​

MAS managing director Ravi Menon said money is coming from growing wealth across Asia, where the rich are seeking a place to invest. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
UPDATED

NOV 3, 2022

SINGAPORE– Singapore can absorb record inflows of new money, the central bank chief said, allaying concerns of a real estate bubble even as rents and prices surge to unprecedented highs.
The Asian financial hub attracted $448 billion in 2021, 15.8 per cent higher than the previous year, the latest data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shows.
“When a large sum of money comes into any country, you should be worried about it,” MAS managing director Ravi Menon said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin. One such concern is flows into the property market driving up prices. Rather than blocking money from coming in, the regulator has imposed measures on the real estate sector to prevent overheating. “We’ve got that under control,” he said.
Singapore’s efforts to build an international wealth hub are paying off as the city is enjoying a post-Covid-19 resurgence, attracting investors drawn to its stability.
Assets managed by local firms soared 16 per cent in 2021 to US$4 trillion (S$5.7 trillion), mostly from overseas, exceeding the global growth rate. Investors from US hedge fund titan Ray Dalio to Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani are setting up offices to manage their personal wealth.
Singapore’s housing market has defied a slump reported in other major markets including Australia, Hong Kong and Canada, leading the Government to take steps to cool the market. Landlords are asking tenants for big rent increases, sometimes as much as double, when they extend leases.
The inflows, which are roughly three-quarters of Singapore’s nominal gross domestic product, come on top of gains from higher asset prices last year, according to the central bank.

The assets are helping to boost the financial hub as it seeks to add as many as 20,000 finance jobs over five years, in areas including wealth management and sustainable financing.
Mr Menon said money is coming from growing wealth across Asia, where the rich are seeking a place to invest. He acknowledged that North Asia’s affluent contribute a large portion of asset flows into Singapore.
“They are richer, they have more investable assets,” he said, speaking ahead of Singapore’s FinTech Festival that starts on Wednesday.
In China, Asia’s largest wealth market, assets plummeted following the Communist Party congress, where President Xi Jinping solidified his grip on power.
Asked whether China may see accelerated capital outflows, Mr Menon said it is too early to tell.
“There’s already some happening,” he said. “Some of it have come to Singapore, you would have seen in the last few years. I am not sure we are looking at any marked pickup.”
In the meantime, Singapore’s capital and financial markets, as well as its banking system, are deep and liquid enough to handle large fund flows, he said. MAS, which also serves as financial regulator, is strict when it comes to illicit fund flows, repeatedly reminding financial institutions to be on guard, Mr Menon said.
“There’s so much money coming in, you can choose,” he said. BLOOMBERG

 

[blackmondy]

Singapore saw record $448 billion inflow of new money in 2021: MAS data​

MAS managing director Ravi Menon said money is coming from growing wealth across Asia, where the rich are seeking a place to invest. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
UPDATED

NOV 3, 2022

SINGAPORE– Singapore can absorb record inflows of new money, the central bank chief said, allaying concerns of a real estate bubble even as rents and prices surge to unprecedented highs.
The Asian financial hub attracted $448 billion in 2021, 15.8 per cent higher than the previous year, the latest data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shows.
“When a large sum of money comes into any country, you should be worried about it,” MAS managing director Ravi Menon said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin. One such concern is flows into the property market driving up prices. Rather than blocking money from coming in, the regulator has imposed measures on the real estate sector to prevent overheating. “We’ve got that under control,” he said.
Singapore’s efforts to build an international wealth hub are paying off as the city is enjoying a post-Covid-19 resurgence, attracting investors drawn to its stability.
Assets managed by local firms soared 16 per cent in 2021 to US$4 trillion (S$5.7 trillion), mostly from overseas, exceeding the global growth rate. Investors from US hedge fund titan Ray Dalio to Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani are setting up offices to manage their personal wealth.
Singapore’s housing market has defied a slump reported in other major markets including Australia, Hong Kong and Canada, leading the Government to take steps to cool the market. Landlords are asking tenants for big rent increases, sometimes as much as double, when they extend leases.
The inflows, which are roughly three-quarters of Singapore’s nominal gross domestic product, come on top of gains from higher asset prices last year, according to the central bank.

The assets are helping to boost the financial hub as it seeks to add as many as 20,000 finance jobs over five years, in areas including wealth management and sustainable financing.
Mr Menon said money is coming from growing wealth across Asia, where the rich are seeking a place to invest. He acknowledged that North Asia’s affluent contribute a large portion of asset flows into Singapore.
“They are richer, they have more investable assets,” he said, speaking ahead of Singapore’s FinTech Festival that starts on Wednesday.
In China, Asia’s largest wealth market, assets plummeted following the Communist Party congress, where President Xi Jinping solidified his grip on power.
Asked whether China may see accelerated capital outflows, Mr Menon said it is too early to tell.
“There’s already some happening,” he said. “Some of it have come to Singapore, you would have seen in the last few years. I am not sure we are looking at any marked pickup.”
In the meantime, Singapore’s capital and financial markets, as well as its banking system, are deep and liquid enough to handle large fund flows, he said. MAS, which also serves as financial regulator, is strict when it comes to illicit fund flows, repeatedly reminding financial institutions to be on guard, Mr Menon said.
“There’s so much money coming in, you can choose,” he said. BLOOMBERG

Shitskin only says the money coming in is new, he has no balls to say that money is clean.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Jail for duo who received over $900k in crime proceeds using foreign workers’ bank accounts​

Yin Junjun (left) and Zhang Ming were each sentenced to 33 months' jail on Dec 8, 2022. ST PHOTOS: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

DEC 8, 2022

SINGAPORE - A man and his brother-in-law conspired to launder large sums of cash, receiving crime proceeds totalling more than $900,000 in bank accounts belonging to foreign workers who had left Singapore.
Their crimes came to light after police officers found over $400,000 in cash and 71 bank cards in their vehicle at a roadblock.
The money came from offences including cheating, said the prosecution, without revealing details about the scams.
Singapore permanent resident Zhang Ming and his Chinese national brother-in-law Yin Junjun were each sentenced to 33 months’ jail on Thursday.
The men, both 39, pleaded guilty to three counts each of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct.
At the time of the offences in 2021, Zhang was a manager at an agency for foreign workers, while Yin worked in a trading firm.
Early that year, a friend introduced Zhang to a man known only as Ah Xiang, who claimed to be in the business of online gaming and soccer betting.

Ah Xiang then asked Zhang whether he was willing to use his bank account to receive cash and then transfer the money to other accounts.
Zhang did not want to use his own account, as he feared it might be frozen if there were large sums flowing in and out of it.
Ah Xiang, who knew that Zhang worked at an agency for foreign workers, suggested using bank accounts owned by such individuals.

He also told Zhang that for every $10,000 he helped receive, he would be paid $200 as commission.
Zhang told Yin about the offer and the two agreed to use the bank accounts of workers who were leaving Singapore to receive the monies.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Soh said that Zhang and Yin started collecting bank cards and Internet banking login details of such workers.
They then shared these details with Ah Xiang via messaging platform Telegram.

Ah Xiang started transferring large amounts of cash into these bank accounts soon after.
Ah Xiang would notify the pair, who had control over these bank accounts, of money transferred. He also gave instructions for them to transfer these sums to cryptocurrency wallets or bank accounts in China.
At around 3am on June 20, 2021, the pair were stopped at a police roadblock in Jalan Toa Payoh.
DPP Soh told the court that the two were arrested as they could not provide a satisfactory explanation for why they had so much cash and so many bank cards in the vehicle.
The two men were represented by lawyers Anthony Lim and Ramesh Tiwary.
Mr Tiwary told the court that their clients were unaware that the monies were proceeds of cheating and had thought that the cash came from online gaming activities.
Each offender was offered bail of $25,000 on Thursday. They were also ordered to surrender themselves at the State Courts on Jan 30, 2023 to begin serving their sentences.

 

[blackmondy]

Dirty gahmen and dirty money always go hand-in-hand.

 

[mojito]

And that my friends, is how u get your strong Singapore dollar. Majulah PAP!

 

[winners]

It's not surprising at all. Switzerland is also doing this. What's wrong?

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

SGX RegCo bars UOBKH from acting as issue manager, full sponsor for IPO, RTO submissions​

SGX RegCo said its regulatory actions apply to IPO and RTO submissions agreed upon from Aug 31. PHOTO: BT FILE
Wong Pei Ting

DEC 27, 2022

SINGAPORE - Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) has barred UOB Kay Hian (UOBKH) from undertaking new mandates to act as an issue manager or full sponsor for initial public offering (IPO) and reverse takeover (RTO) submissions on the local bourse.
This was the outcome after the market regulator deliberated the actions taken against the brokerage firm by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and considering the interests of the market, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
MAS on Aug 31 fined UOBKH $375,000 for business conduct compliance failures. The latter did not adhere to the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations, as well as anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism requirements.
The failures, discovered during an inspection, included accepting third-party receipts that “represented a substantial amount of the value of an initial price offering” without conducting adequate due diligence, MAS previously said.
SGX RegCo on Tuesday said its regulatory actions apply to IPO and RTO submissions agreed upon from Aug 31. For UOBKH to reintroduce activities as a full sponsor, it will be subject to “certain requirements”. A review of SGX RegCo’s requirements will be subject to, among others, UOBKH satisfactorily addressing and fulfilling all of its recommendations, conditions and directions, it added.
Shares of UOBKH closed flat at $1.40 on Tuesday. THE BUSINESS TIMES

 

[batman1]

Go to the casinos and observe the punters.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Jail for woman who took $217k from employer and gave it to male online friend​

Wong Oi Ling was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating and one of theft. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

JAN 4, 2023

SINGAPORE - A woman unlawfully moved more than $217,000 of her employer’s monies to her own bank account before transferring the amount to a male online friend.
Wong Oi Ling, 61, had also befriended another man online and opened several bank accounts at his request.
One of the accounts was later used to receive $10,000 from a 43-year-old woman who was a love scam victim.
Wong was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail on Wednesday after she pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating and one of theft.
At the time of the offences, she was working as an accounts and administration manager at Angel Accents, a firm dealing in women’s accessories.
In September 2019, she befriended a man known as Rob Walter Kwok on Facebook.
He told her that he was working in Scotland and the pair became close over time.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Phang said that in October 2019, Kwok told Wong that he had met with an accident and needed money to pay for an operation as well as other medical expenses.
He also asked Wong if she could send him some money.
She then hatched a plan to transfer funds from Angel Accents’ bank account to her personal one.

On 20 occasions between Oct 22, 2019, and Aug 11, 2020, Wong transferred more than $217,000 of the firm’s cash to her own bank account before sending it to Kwok.
Some time between December 2020 and January 2021, the firm’s bank notified a director at Angel Accents about the fund transfers.
After conducting a check, the director confronted Wong, who came clean about what she had done.
Wong initially agreed to make $1,000 in restitution each month from January 2021. She also told the director that she was expecting an insurance payout of around $100,000 in August 2021.

Wong initially kept her word and paid $1,000 to the firm each month from January to March 2021. But she later failed to make more payments and the director alerted the police on Sept 20, 2021.
Separately, Wong also befriended another man known only as Jason on Facebook in November 2020.
In March 2021, Jason told her that he had a hole in his lung, for which he needed an operation. Jason also claimed that his friend, known only as “Hendry”, would be helping him foot the medical expenses.
Jason, who claimed that Hendry ran a medication oil business, then asked Wong to help Hendry open bank accounts in Singapore, to purportedly help them receive payments from clients.
DPP Phang said: “Jason... claimed that he was working in Turkey and unable to access his own bank accounts.
“Jason also instructed the accused to send the ATM cards for the accounts to a specified address in Malaysia. The accused agreed to Jason’s request.”

Wong later opened accounts with financial institutions including Maybank Singapore and CIMB. She duped the banks into believing that she would be the sole operator of the accounts, when she was not.
Wong later sent a parcel containing four ATM cards to a Malaysian address that Jason had given her.
Meanwhile, in June 2021, a 43-year-old woman got to know a “Davis Goh” on an online dating platform. Three months later, Davis asked the woman for financial assistance, and she agreed to help him.
Davis then provided her with the account number of one of the bank accounts that Wong had opened. The younger woman transferred $10,000 to it, and this sum has not been recovered.
Court documents did not disclose the outcome of the cases involving Kwok, Goh and Jason.