On 25 February 2022, Chen Binjue (“Chen”) was charged in the State Courts for assisting others to retain benefits from criminal conduct, cheating and forgery.
The Commercial Affairs Department received a complaint from a victim who was defrauded into transferring US$ 952,000 (“the funds”) into a bank account belonging to a Singapore-registered company (“the Company”).
Investigations revealed that Chen was a director of the Company. Sometime between March 2019 and 28 July 2020, she was allegedly concerned in an arrangement to allow the Company’s bank account to receive criminal proceeds. Sometime in June 2019, she allegedly forged three invoices for the purpose of cheating the bank as to the source and purpose of the funds. Between April 2019 and September 2019, Chen had also allegedly cheated an employee of a corporate service provider (“CSP”) into making lodgements with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”), pertaining to the transfer of two companies’ directorships to an individual, when the said individual did not so consent.
Chen currently faces the following charges:
One count under Section 44(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act for allegedly being concerned in an arrangement to facilitate the retention by another of the benefits from criminal conduct. If found guilty of the offence, one shall be liable on conviction, to a fine not exceeding $500,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both;
Three counts under Section 468 of the Penal Code for allegedly forging three invoices for the purpose of cheating the bank as to the source and purpose of the funds. If found guilty of the offence, for each count, one shall be liable on conviction, to imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine; and
Five counts under Section 417 of the Penal Code for allegedly cheating the employee of the CSP into making lodgements with ACRA. If found guilty of the offence, for each count, one shall be liable on conviction, to imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, a fine, or both.
Police take a serious view of the offences and will not hesitate to take action against any individuals involved in arrangements allowing their companies to be used for illegal purposes such as the laundering of criminal proceeds.
Source: Singapore Police Force