Each man was sentenced to 30 weeks’ jail and a fine of S$125,000. - Photo: ST file
SINGAPORE: Two men have been given jail sentences over providing unlawful cross-border money transfer services, with the bank accounts of a firm linked to them receiving nearly US$45 million (S$58.6 million) in total from overseas.
Vietnamese Dinh Tien Dat, 28, and Malaysian Patrick Lee Paik Cheng, 66, had taken part in the scheme involving payments from Vietnamese clients to recipients elsewhere.
However, investigations did not reveal if any of the funds came from criminal proceeds.
Court documents stated that from the total amount, Dat and Lee remitted more than US$44 million to others in Singapore.
The pair retained nearly US$300,000 in commission, with Dat getting 60 per cent and Lee the remaining 40 per cent.
On Wednesday (Nov 12), each man was sentenced to 30 weeks’ jail and a fine of $125,000 after admitting to carrying out a business of providing payment services in Singapore without a licence.
Each man has to spend an additional 15 weeks behind bars if they fail to pay the fine.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Teo told the court that Lee, who is also a Singapore permanent resident, had incorporated a company called Tupt on March 22, 2019.
He was the firm’s sole director, and he operated it with Dat.
The company’s bank accounts later received nearly US$45 million in 58 transactions between July 2020 and April 2022.
As part of their operation, Dat would source for Vietnamese clients who needed to remit money to recipients in other countries.
These were typically for the purchase of vessels in Singapore.
The clients would then sign a contract with Tupt, agreeing that they would transfer money to the firm.
Tupt would then transfer the funds to the intended recipients.
DPP Teo said: “Dat admitted that it was his idea to run (the business in such a way) after hearing from a Vietnamese businessman that payments from Vietnam to Singapore were often delayed and this caused businesses to incur extra costs, such as penalties for late payment or port charges for vessels docked in Singapore.
“These delays could be averted or mitigated if the Vietnamese clients used a Singaporean payment intermediary like Tupt.”
Besides sourcing for clients, Dat was the point of contact liaising between Lee and Tupt’s Vietnamese clients.
Dat would also check the legitimacy of the transactions by looking up the business profiles of the intended recipients.
Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light, but Lee and Dat were arrested in June 2025. - The Straits Times/ANN
