SINGAPORE: An 18-year-old youth set up a company in January 2022 and its bank account was later used to receive the proceeds of an overseas scam totalling some US$1.5 million (S$2 million).
On March 13, Deen’s Watches was convicted of one count of dealing with the proceeds of criminal activities and was fined $50,000.
Singaporean Ali Kuthubudeen, now 20, was its sole director at the time and his case is pending. He is accused of crimes including housebreaking and offences under the Computer Misuse Act.
In a statement to the police in May 2022, Ali said that he got to know an acquaintance when they were at the Singapore Boys’ Home and the latter asked him to set up a watch company, promising between $20,000 and $30,000 in profits.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin told the court that Ali agreed and set up Deen’s Watches with help from the acquaintance and another person, known only as “Gibson”.
The DPP added that Ali then handed them items including his Singpass login credentials and a photocopy of his identity card.
After that, the pair opened bank accounts using Ali’s particulars.
The prosecutor said: “Ali allowed (the pair) to log into the corporate accounts using his Singpass. However, he changed the Singpass password a few hours later, as he was afraid of (them) using his Singpass for other purposes.”
As the director of Deen’s Watches, Ali knew that he had to take care of the company’s affairs, said DPP Tung.
Despite this, court documents stated that the youth did not monitor the company’s business activities or financial transactions.
DPP Tung told the court: “Ali claimed that he had asked (the acquaintance) for updates on Deen’s Watches’ business matters but did not pursue it further when (he) ignored his requests for updates.”
On April 27, 2022, one of Deen’s Watches’ bank accounts received nearly US$1.5 million, and this was part of US$4 million belonging to another company.
A fraudster, who pretended to be from one Decheng Capital Global Life Sciences Fund, had earlier sent fraudulent instructions asking for US$4 million to be transferred from its bank account to another account belonging to a company called Binary Luxe.
The US$4 million was transferred to Binary Luxe’s bank account, and from the amount, Deen’s Watches’ bank account later received nearly US$1.5million.
The money was later dissipated to other accounts in China.
Most of the remaining cash was also transferred to bank accounts in China.
The police were alerted and Ali gave his statement on May 18, 2022.
His pre-trial conference will be held on March 26. - The Straits Times/ANN
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