SINGAPORE: While on an S Pass from another company, a man helped his friend provide illegal money remittance services for migrant workers from India.
Operating the business from a shophouse in Little India, Raju Krishnamoorthi, 45, collected over S$28 million from his customers between February and April 2025.
He also went on to provide his own remittance services for customers.
On Wednesday (July 15), Raju was sentenced to nine months and seven weeks’ jail.
The Indian national pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring with another person to operate a cross-border money transfer business, and one charge of abetting someone to make a false statement for a work pass application.
He was also fined $60,000.
Court documents stated that Raju used the illegal remittance service in 2022.
He became acquainted with a man known as Syed, who later asked if he wanted to help operate the illegal remittance business, located in a shophouse at Norris Road, in Little India.
Raju agreed to do so for $1,500 a month, and lived in the shophouse.
Syed would liaise with customers who wanted to remit money to India. They would go to the second floor of the shophouse to hand Raju the cash.
Some customers would also hand their ATM cards and PIN to Raju for safekeeping. If they wanted to remit money back to India, they would instruct Raju to withdraw the money from their bank account. Raju would inform Syed, who would contact the customer to work out details of the remittance.
When it came to remitting cash, Syed would arrange for another person to collect the money from Raju.
When the third person collected the cash from Raju, Raju would ensure that the money was handed over to the correct person by asking that individual to send a picture of a $2 note to Syed.
Syed would forward the image to Raju. The person collecting the cash would have to produce the same note to Raju, who would match the serial numbers.
If they matched, Raju would hand the cash over and exchange the $2 note for another note.
Raju would deduct his monthly salary from the cash he collected. He used some of the money to pay for the $1,000 monthly rental of the room.
During peak periods, Raju would collect about $1 million in cash from Syed’s customers when the migrant workers received their salaries.
Raju began providing his own remittance services in March 2024.
To ensure the transactions he handled for Syed were kept separate from his own customers, Raju used another mobile phone with a local phone number. He earned over $50,000 from his own customers.
Raju’s and Syed’s schemes were uncovered on April 8, 2025, when police raided the shophouse. That day, police seized more than $314,000 from Raju.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordon Li noted the operation involved a level of sophistication, premeditation and planning.
He said: “It is also significant that the accused had adopted an identification system involving $2 notes, demonstrating that there was significant planning behind the operations of the syndicate.” - The Straits Times/ANN
