On 28 August 2025, a 61-year-old Vietnamese and American dual citizenship holder, Nguyen Duy Khiem (“Khiem”) was convicted of three counts of money laundering, including two counts under Section 47AA of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (“CDSA”) and one count under Section 47(3) of the CDSA. He was sentenced to 19 months imprisonment and fined S$239,065.
Between 2018 and 2019, Khiem entered into arrangements with various overseas call centres that were promoting fake investments to potential investors. Through these arrangements, Khiem assisted the call centres in receiving fraudulent proceeds from investors and transferred them to overseas bank accounts.
Khiem set up various companies in Singapore and used their corporate bank accounts for these fraudulent activities. In 2019, he arranged for two Vietnamese women, Hoang Dinh Phuong Thao and Hoang Thi Thuy Hang, to incorporate Kaloca Asia Pte Ltd (“Kaloca”) and Wellington York Partners Pte Ltd (“Wellington”) respectively in Singapore. Khiem also arranged for Thao and Hang to set up bank accounts for these companies in Singapore. Despite being the directors and authorized signatories of the companies, Thao and Hang did not have any actual control, as all operations and bank accounts were managed by Khiem.
Between December 2019 and October 2020, the bank accounts of Kaloca and Wellington received a total of US$457,500 and over US$7.8 million, respectively, all derived from overseas investment scams.
Investigations revealed that transactions made from Kaloca and Wellington’s bank accounts were layered to avoid raising suspicion. False invoices were generated to justify these transactions to financial institutions. Khiem received commissions of more than US$ 1 million from his arrangements with the call centres.
Any person convicted of an offence under Section 47AA of the CDSA or Section 55 of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 (“CDSA 1992”) may be punished with a fine not exceeding S$150,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both.
Any person convicted of an offence under Section 47(3) of the CDSA or Section 54(3) of the CDSA 1992 may be punished with a fine not exceeding S$500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both.
The Police takes a serious stance against any person involved in the laundering of proceeds of crime. These criminal acts compromise the integrity of Singapore’s financial system. To ensure that Singapore remains a safe and trusted place for business and finance, the Police will take tough enforcement action against such perpetrators, who will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
28 August 2025 @ 6:15 PM