Teo Hui-Ni Sumiko-Jill (“Sumiko-Jill Teo”), a 37-year-old Singaporean who was wanted for more than a year, was extradited to Singapore and charged in court on 4 August 2023 with criminal breach of trust and other offences.
Sumiko-Jill Teo was a remisier at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte Ltd (“MBKE”) at the material time. She had left Singapore in January 2022 before a police report alleging criminal breach of trust was lodged against her.
A Warrant of Arrest and an INTERPOL Red Notice were immediately issued against her. With the cooperation and assistance of the United States Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) and the Spain National Police, she was extradited to Singapore on 27 July 2023 and arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department (“CAD”) on the same day.
Sumiko-Jill Teo was charged with 56 counts of offences, as follows:
- 32 counts of committing criminal breach of trust as an agent under Section 409(1)(b) of the Penal Code;
- One count of committing criminal breach of trust under Section 406 of the Penal Code;
- Eight counts of committing fraud by false representation under Section 424A of the Penal Code;
- 11 counts of fraudulently using as genuine a forged document under Section 471 read with Section 465 of the Penal Code; and
- Four counts of forgery under Section 465 of the Penal Code read with Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The charges allege, inter alia, that between January 2020 and December 2021, Sumiko-Jill Teo dishonestly misappropriated more than $13 million that were entrusted to her by 15 victims. Further, Sumiko-Jill Teo had allegedly provided her victims with forged trading records purportedly issued by MBKE and/or manually entered trade transactions in the victims’ MBKE application, with the intention of causing them to believe that their monies had been applied towards trades in their accounts when this was not the case.
If convicted, Sumiko-Jill Teo faces:
- Imprisonment of up to 20 years, and shall be liable to fine, for each charge of an offence under Section 409(1)(b) of the Penal Code;
- Imprisonment of up to seven years, fine, or both, for each charge of an offence under Section 406 of the Penal Code;
- Imprisonment of up to 20 years, fine, or both, for each charge of an offence under Section 424A of the Penal Code;
- Imprisonment of up to four years, fine, or both, for each charge of an offence under Section 471 read with Section 465 of the Penal Code; and
- Imprisonment of up to four years, fine, or both, for each charge of an offence under Section 465 of the Penal Code read with Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Director CAD, Mr David Chew said, “The Police are resolved to work with our law enforcement partners to afford criminals no safe refuge nor enjoyment of their proceeds of crime. We will continue to collaborate closely with INTERPOL and our wide network of overseas law enforcement partners to locate, arrest and extradite criminals to face justice in Singapore. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the HSI and our Spanish counterparts for their invaluable assistance in this extradition.”
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
04 August 2023 @ 12:15 PM