On 5 November 2024, 41-year-old Chen Binjue (“Chen”) was sentenced to an imprisonment term of 28 months for one count of an offence under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (“CDSA”), punishable under Section 44(5)(a) CDSA.
Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department revealed that Chen was a director of Dionysuss Lifestyle Pte Ltd (“Dionysuss”) and Singapoints Pte Ltd (“Singapoints”). In April 2019, Chen got involved in a scheme with a money laundering syndicate with unknown individuals from the People’s Republic of China. As part of the arrangement, Chen agreed to allow Dionysuss’ and Singapoints’ bank accounts in Singapore to be used to receive the syndicate’s monies, when she had reasonable grounds to believe the syndicate was engaged in criminal conduct and that its monies were benefits of criminal conduct.
As a result of Chen’s arrangement with the syndicate, Dionysuss’ corporate bank account received S$1,277,192.47 from a foreign corporate victim of a phone impersonation scam on 26 June 2019. A transfer of S$296,639.00 was made from Dionysuss’ corporate bank account to an overseas bank account the next day. The funds were successfully recalled by the bank and the victim recovered the funds.
Chen also faced cheating charges for deceiving the corporate service provider of Dionysuss and Singapoints with information she knew to be false to intentionally induce the corporate service provider to lodge filings with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, and charges of forgery for the purpose of cheating by submitting forged documents to the bank to justify the receipt and subsequent outflow of funds from Dionysuss’ corporate bank account. These charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
Under the CDSA, the offence of entering into an arrangement, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that, by the arrangement, the retention or control by or on behalf of another of that other person’s benefits from criminal conduct is facilitated, and having reasonable grounds to believe that that other person is a person who engages in or has engaged in criminal conduct, carries a punishment of up to ten years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to $500,000, or both.
The Police will not hesitate to take stern enforcement action against persons who knowingly allow their bank accounts to be used by scammers to receive monies and launder the proceeds of crime. The Police take a serious stance against such perpetrators to deter these offenders from using Singapore’s financial system as a conduit for illicit funds as it affects Singapore’s reputation as an international financial centre.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
05 November 2024 @ 6:15 PM