Two Malaysians fined $30,000 for bringing in $1.8 million

She wanted to bring a whopping $1.8 million here to gamble at the Resorts World Singapore casino.

So Malaysian Tay Bee Hoong, 40, asked one of her friends to take the money - which was part of her previous winnings from gambling here - across the Causeway for her.

The friend, Yong King Lieng, 49, was caught with the cash at the Woodlands Checkpoint at around 2am on Oct 6 last year.

Under Singapore law, it is an offence to bring $30,000 or more in cash into the country without declaring it.

For committing the offence, the Malaysian women were fined $15,000 each on Wednesday.

Yong pleaded guilty to bringing the money over, while Tay admitted to abetting the offence.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kok Shu-En said that Tay had instructed Yong to collect the money from her house in Malaysia.

Yong was supposed to make her way here and hand the cash to Tay at the casino.

When Yong arrived at the Woodlands Checkpoint in a Malaysia-registered car, an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer, Corporal Muhammad Asri Mohamed Ishak, saw a bag on the floorboard near the rear passenger seat. It contained stacks of cash.

DPP Kok told District Judge Eugene Teo that no fee was required to legally bring the money into Singapore, so long as it was declared.

The $1.8 million was returned to Tay after she paid her fine.

The women could have been jailed up to three years and fined up to $50,000 for the offence.

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