On 6 January 2020, Grecils Fredrick Badges (“Grecils”), an Indian national and an employee of a foreign corporate service provider, V2P Solutions, pleaded guilty to one count of offence under Section 44(1)(a) and punishable under Section 44(5)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act for concerning himself in an arrangement to facilitate the control of another person’s benefit from criminal conduct. He was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment.
During his employment with V2P Solutions and residence in India, Grecils had recruited locals who were willing to be appointed as directors of newly incorporated companies and to open bank accounts in the companies’ name. These individuals would cede control over them in return for a fee. Grecils understood that V2P Solutions is in the business of selling shell companies and their corporate bank accounts, which are often used to facilitate money-laundering activities.
To facilitate the abovementioned scheme, Grecils recruited Jadhav Vishal Vijaykumar (“Vishal”) to be a registered director of Moore Pte Ltd and to apply for its corporate bank accounts in Singapore. They then travelled to Singapore between 25 and 29 December 2018 to perpetrate the offence.
On 27 December 2018, Grecils accompanied Vishal to United Overseas Bank (“UOB”) in Singapore to apply for a corporate bank account for Moore Pte Ltd. Grecils instructed Vishal to submit forged business profile resume of the latter’s purported company in India to give UOB the impression that he is a successful businessman in India.
After UOB approved the opening of the account, the internet banking access token together with userid, passcode were couriered to V2P Solutions. The bank account was subsequently used to carry out money laundering activities, including receiving US$50,000 in criminal proceeds.
On 7 November 2018, Vishal pleaded guilty to one count of an offence under Section 471 read with Section 465 of the Penal Code for using as genuine a forged business profile resume of his purported company in India and one count of offence under Section 415 and punishable under Section 417 of the Penal Code for deceiving UOB into believing the false information about his purported company and thus dishonestly induced the UOB to approve the corporate account application. Vishal was sentenced to 5 months’ imprisonment.
Singapore does not tolerate the use of its financial system as a refuge or conduit for illicit funds. The offence of assisting another to retain or control benefits from criminal conduct under Section 44 of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act carries a fine not exceeding S$500,000 and/or a jail term not exceeding 10 years. Action will be taken against individuals who have broken laws within our jurisdiction.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
08 January 2020 @ 12:10 PM