On 10 August 2023, a 25-year-old man and director of a Singapore-registered company (“Company”) was charged with offences of money laundering, engaging in a conspiracy to cheat the bank, knowingly disclosing the Company’s bank account details to another person, and failing to exercise reasonable diligence in the discharge of his duties as a director of the Company.
In October 2021, the Company’s bank account was allegedly used to launder around $1.5 million of funds that was linked to a business email compromise scam perpetrated against an overseas bank. Investigations revealed that the man had allegedly provided his Singpass credentials to an unknown third party that had recruited him through Telegram and promised to pay him $1,000 a month if he incorporated a company and opened a corporate bank account.
The man purportedly conspired with the unknown third party to deceive a local bank into opening a corporate bank account for the Company. The man then allegedly provided the third party with the one-time verification codes required for the activation of the bank’s internet banking facility as well as provided the digital token to the Company’s bank account to allow the third party to use the corporate bank account. Subsequently, the man also allegedly failed to supervise the affairs of the Company as required of a director of the Company, which led to the Company’s bank account being used to launder suspected criminal proceeds.
The man is also facing other unrelated charges.
Under Section 47AA(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation Of Benefits) Act, offenders convicted of possessing property that may be reasonably suspected of being benefits of criminal conduct may be liable to an imprisonment term of up to 3 years and/or a fine not exceeding $150,000.
Under Section 417 of the Penal Code, offenders convicted of cheating may be liable to an imprisonment term of up to 3 years and/or a fine.
Under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act read with Section 10 of the same act, offenders convicted for knowingly causing a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access without authority may be liable to an imprisonment term of up to 2 years and/or a fine of up to $5,000 for the first conviction.
Under Section 157(1) of the Companies Act, offenders convicted of failing to use reasonable diligence in the discharge of duties as a director may be liable to an imprisonment term of up to 12 months or a fine of up to $5,000. Under Section 154(2)(b) read with Section 154(4)(a) of the Companies Act, offenders may also be disqualified from acting as a director for up to five years.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
10 August 2023 @ 3:45 PM