A 61-year-old woman will be charged in court on 19 January 2023 for her suspected involvement in money laundering activities under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Offences (Confiscation of Benefits) Act Chapter 65A (“CDSA”).
On 24 September 2021, the Police received a report that a payment of AUD 70,000 arising from an alleged government official impersonation scam overseas, was transferred into a bank account in Singapore belonging to the woman.
Between January 2021 and September 2021, the woman had allegedly agreed to receive a total sum of approximately $164,284.36 on five separate occasions using three different bank accounts maintained by her on behalf of a man known to her as “Shyam”, whom she had not been in contact with for the past seven years. She allegedly delivered cash withdrawals amounting to approximately $160,000 on four occasions to unknown parties, despite having reasons to believe that some of the money could be benefits of criminal conduct, and retained $2,530.50 as commission.
The woman will be charged with two counts of an offence under Section 47(3) of the CDSA, and one count of an offence under Section 47AA(1) of the CDSA. Anyone found guilty of acquiring, possessing, using, concealing or transferring benefits from criminal conduct, under Section 47(3) of the CDSA, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $500,000, to imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years, or to both.
The offence of possessing or using property that may be reasonably suspected of being benefits of criminal conduct and failing to account satisfactorily for how he or she came by the property, under Section 47AA(1) of the CDSA , shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $150,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.
The Police take a serious view of these offences and will not hesitate to take action against anyone who allows his or her bank accounts to be used for illegal purposes such as the laundering of criminal proceeds. To avoid being an accomplice to crimes, members of the public should always reject requests by others to use their bank accounts as they will be held accountable if the bank accounts are linked to crimes.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
18 January 2023 @ 2:00 PM