Vietnamese-American man convicted in $10.6m money laundering case

A Vietnamese-American man was sentenced to a jail term of 19 months and fined $239,065 after he was convicted of three counts of money laundering on Thursday (Aug 28).

In news release, the police said that Nguyen Duy Khiem, a 61-year-old dual citizenship holder, was involved in a US$8.3 million (S$10.6 million) money laundering case.

Between 2018 and 2019, he entered into arrangements with various overseas call centres that were promoting fake investments to potential investors.

He worked with those centres to receive fraudulent proceeds from investors and transferred them to overseas bank accounts, said the police.

Khiem set up various companies in Singapore and used their corporate bank accounts for these fraudulent activities.

In 2019, he arranged for two Vietnamese women, Hoang Dinh Phuong Thao and Hoang Thi Thuy Hang, to incorporate two companies, Kaloca Asia and Wellington York Partners, respectively in Singapore. 

Khiem also arranged for the two women to set up bank accounts for Kaloca and Wellington in Singapore.

"Despite being the directors and authorised signatories of the companies, Thao and Hang did not have any actual control, as all operations and bank accounts were managed by Khiem," the police said.

Between December 2019 and October 2020, Kaloca and Wellington's bank accounts received a total of US$457,500 and over US$7.8 million respectively.

According to the police, all the funds were derived from overseas investment scams, where transactions made from Kaloca and Wellington's bank accounts were layered to avoid raising suspicion.

Police investigations revealed that false invoices were generated to justify these transactions to financial institutions, and that Khiem received commissions of over US$1 million from his arrangements with the call centres.

Anyone convicted of an offence under Section 47AA of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (CDSA) may face a maximum a fine of $150,000, a maximum jail term of three years, or both.

Anyone convicted of an offence under Section 47(3) of the CDSA may be fined up to $500,000, a maximum jail term of 10 years, or both. 

"The police takes a serious stance against any person involved in the laundering of proceeds of crime," they said, adding that these crimes compromise the integrity of Singapore’s financial system. 

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dana.leong@asiaone.com