The Police will be charging three men and one woman for their suspected involvement in cheating, money laundering and illegal employment-related activities. The employment and immigration facilities of another five men of foreign nationality will be revoked, and they will be barred from returning to Singapore.
On 18 May 2024, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Special Operations Command conducted raids of residences along Victoria Park Road and Pasir Ris Grove, resulting in the arrest of eight men and three women.
Amongst the 11 persons arrested, three men aged 35 (Singapore Citizen), 40 (PRC Employment Pass holder), and 44 (Cambodian Employment Pass holder), and a 35-year-old woman (property agent; Malaysia Permanent Resident), allegedly conspired to cheat the landlord of a residential unit by misrepresenting the main tenant in the tenancy agreement, and falsely claiming that the unit would be used for residential purposes, when it was intended for use as a private recreational club. The 40-year-old and 44-year-old men have also allegedly committed employment-related offences.
Further investigations by the Criminal Investigation Department and Commercial Affairs Department also revealed the following money laundering activities:
- The woman allegedly used S$26,000 of criminal proceeds to pay for her condominium; and
- In a separate incident on 17 August 2023, the 44-year-old man had failed to declare cash amounting to more than $22,000 when he was about to leave Singapore.
Cash amounting to more than $88,000, computers, mobile phones and two motor vehicles with a combined value of more than $1 million have been seized as case exhibits and criminal proceeds. Police will apply to forfeit these criminal proceeds upon conclusion of the case.
The four persons will be charged in court on 1 April 2025 with offences under the Penal Code 1871, Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 and Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992.
The remaining seven persons (two Singapore Citizens, four PRC Work Permit holders, and one Cambodian national) were investigated for offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 and Gambling Control Act 2022. The employment and immigration facilities of the foreign nationals will be revoked, and they will be barred from returning to Singapore.
Two shell companies which hired the two men, aged 40 and 44, have been struck off from the Register of Companies. Investigations against a third company are ongoing, for allegedly obtaining work passes for two out of the seven persons, but not employing them.
Any person who:
- conspires to cheat shall be guilty of an offence under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code 1871, and shall be liable on conviction to a fine and imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years;
- acquires, possesses, uses, conceals or transfers benefits from criminal conduct shall be guilty of an offence under Section 54(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of up to $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years or to both.
- fails to report about cross-border movement of cash shall be guilty of an offence under Section 60(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of up to $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term of up to 3 years or to both.
- is a foreigner and is in the employment of an employer without a valid work pass shall be guilty of an offence under Section 5(2) of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of up to $20,000 or to imprisonment of up to 2 years or to both.
- obtains a work pass for a foreign employee for a trade or business that does not exist, that is not in operation or that does not require the employment of such a foreign employee, and fails to employ the foreign employee, shall be guilty of an offence under Section 22B(1) of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of up to $6000 and an imprisonment term of not less than 6 months and not more than 2 years.
The Police take a serious stance against the laundering of criminal proceeds and failure to declare the cross-border movement of cash as required by the law, and offenders will be dealt with robustly. The Police will not hesitate to take stern enforcement action against companies that are incorporated for illegal purposes such as the laundering of criminal proceeds.
Photographs of cash seized from the scene▼
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
31 March 2025 @ 11:45 AM