54-year-old Chinese national, Wei Hongtao, was convicted and sentenced to 26 months in prison and a $70,000 fine for two counts of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (“CDSA”) and one count of carrying on an unlicensed remittance business on September 9, 2021.
Wei confessed to making plans to receive and transfer illicit proceeds with a co-accused person. Wei was promised commissions in November 2017 in exchange for utilizing a business bank account to accept funds for a third party and then transfer the funds to China.
Wei did not have a corporate bank account therefore he sought the aid of another man to utilize the latter’s company’s corporate bank accounts in exchange for a portion of the commission.
Wei had concerns regarding the funds he was assisting in receiving at all times, thinking that the arrangements were intended to avoid corporate taxes in other countries.
Despite his suspicions, he made arrangements with the co-accused to assist in the receipt and transfer of funds for the benefit of the third party, despite having reasonable grounds to believe that the third party had engaged in criminal conduct, and by making these arrangements, he facilitated the third party’s retention of the benefits of criminal conduct.
Separately, in January 2018, Wei and the co-accused individual agreed to utilize the latter’s business bank accounts to help another Wei acquaintance transfer money to China in exchange for a commission split. Wei was well aware that the firm lacked a legitimate remittance license from the Singapore Monetary Authority.
Wei’s agreements with the co-accused person resulted in the co-accused person’s business bank accounts receiving and remitting cash totalling roughly USD 2.5 million to various bank accounts in China.
Approximately SGD 456,202 of the funds received in corporate bank accounts have been linked to fraud victims.