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Annual Report 2016

The Financial and Technology Crime Division (“FTCD”) specialises in prosecuting commercial, corruption, cybercrime and casino regulatory offences. FTCD also handles civil penalty cases for market misconduct under the Securities and Futures Act (Cap. 289, 2006 Rev Ed) (“SFA”) together with the Civil Division, and represents Singapore at meetings of the Financial Action Task Force together with the International Affairs Division (“IAD”) and other Government agencies.

HIGHLIGHTS OF WORK DONE IN 2015

(1) Major Cases Handled by the General Commercial Crimes Directorate

  1. Public Prosecutor v Chew Chiew Loon Jover and Four Others (DAC 919820 of 2010 and Others)
    2.

    The owner of a shop selling mobile devices was jailed for 33 months for cheating unsuspecting foreigners. The shop’s illegal sales tactics involved deceptively low sales prices, coupled with a “warranty package” tacked on to compel a “settlement” on terms favourable to the shop. The owner’s four salesmen were jailed between four and fourteen months.

  2. Public Prosecutor v Tan Yong Hai (DAC 32340 of 2014 and Others)
    3.

    A fugitive who was on the run for misappropriating $1.42 million from his employer in 2012 returned in 2013 to defraud a public-listed company of $3.59 million with the help of a childhood friend. The fugitive and his co-conspirator were jailed nine years three months and six years respectively.

  3. Public Prosecutor v Yan Khek Yong [2015] SGDC 11
    4.

    An 89-year old wheelchair-bound victim was manipulated by his real estate agent into giving him five cash cheques totalling $559,200 meant as payment for a smaller apartment to house his intellectually-impaired daughter. The agent was convicted even though the victim had passed on by the time of the trial. The agent received a jail term of five years and three months.

(2) Major Cases Handled by the Corruption Directorate

  1. Public Prosecutor v Rajendran s/o R Kurusamy (DAC 919976/2015 and Others)
    2.

    A seasoned match-fixer was jailed for 48 months for masterminding a conspiracy with three foreigners to fix the outcome of a 2015 SEA Games football match between Malaysia and Timor-Leste. The sentence is the highest ever imposed for a single match-fixing offence.

  2. Public Prosecutor v Phey Yew Kok (DAC 3770 of 2015 and Others)
    3.

    The 81-year-old former Member of Parliament and union leader was jailed for 60 months on numerous charges for, inter alia, criminal breach of trust pertaining to union funds. He had been on the run since 1979 and only returned to Singapore in June 2015.

(3) Major Cases Handled by the Financial and Securities Offences Directorate

  1. Public Prosecutor v Lam Leng Hung and Five Others [2015] SGDC 326 & 327
    2.

    AGC officers secured convictions for all six accused persons in a notorious case involving the misappropriation of $24 million from City Harvest Church by several church leaders. One of the longest trials in Singapore history (lasting 143 days), the case involved multiple Senior Counsel. All parties’ appeals against conviction and sentence are pending.

    See Public Prosecutor v Lam Leng Hung and others [2015] SGDC 326 & 327 at http://bit.ly/1YyYy58 (accessed 21 March 2016).
  2. Public Prosecutor v Soh Guan Cheow Anthony [2015] SGDC 190
    3.

    The accused was convicted of 39 counts of serious offences under the SFA, including insider trading, market rigging, false reports to the Singapore Exchange and the Securities Industries Council, and making a take-over offer when he had no reasonable grounds for believing that he would be able to perform his obligations. This was the first ever prosecution of this nature. He was convicted and sentenced to eight years and nine months’ imprisonment. Appeals against conviction and sentence are currently pending.

  3. Public Prosecutor v Lim Goon Lor [2015] SGDC 205
    4.

    The accused engaged in several conspiracies to counterfeit currencies and traffic them in Singapore between 1987 and 1991 and absconded for over twenty years before he was arrested overseas and repatriated to stand trial in 2015 at the age of 71. His sentence of eleven years’ imprisonment was upheld on appeal.

(4) Major Cases Handled by the Technology Crime Unit

  1. Public Prosecutor v Mok Wai Lun Calvin [2015] SGDC 306

    This was the first prosecution of its kind under a key provision in the new Protection from Harassment Act (Cap. 256A). A Hong Kong-based gigolo was jailed for 13 weeks for sending threatening messages to his Singapore-based victim to demand money to end their relationship. He was arrested when he entered Singapore to collect the money.

  2. Public Prosecutor v Ed Bello Mundsel Ello (MAC 902864 of 2015 and Others)

    3. The accused posted two seditious comments online pertaining to an article published on the Facebook page of “The Real Singapore”. Both comments contained hostile content directed at Singaporeans and had a tendency to promote ill-will and hostility between Singaporeans and Filipinos. The accused pleaded guilty to five charges in total – two counts of sedition under section 4(1) of the Sedition Act (Cap. 290, 2013 Rev Ed) and three counts of providing false information to a public servant under section 182 of the Penal Code (Cap. 224, 2008 Rev Ed), and was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment in total.

(5) Other Legal Work & Key Initiatives

  1. Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) Review

    2. Singapore’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regime underwent Mutual Evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force in 2015. Intense preparations were undertaken, including those by AGC officers in FTCD and in IAD.

  2. United Nations Convention Against Corruption (“UNCAC”) Review

    3. A review of Singapore’s implementation of the UNCAC was completed in January 2016. In the course of the review, AGC officers from both FTCD and IAD collaborated with agencies such as the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Home Affairs, Public Service Division and the Commercial Affairs Division, as well as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (“UNODC”), to prepare a full Country Review Report and Executive Summary (currently published on the UNODC’s website). In 2015, reviewing state parties and UNODC representatives visited Singapore for an on-site assessment. See the Executive Summary at http://bit.ly/1MwoAhU (accessed 21 March 2016).

  3. Integration of FTCD Prosecutors with Investigative Teams

    4. The Division’s prosecutors are increasingly being integrated in investigative teams from the beginning of investigations, especially for complex or high-profile cases.

    Capabilities_A
    (above)FTCD DPPs on the way to Cour
  4. Standing Panel of Experts
    5.

    The Division is considering the engagement of a standing panel of experts from different fields such as accounting, finance and intellectual property to be available on short notice to provide expert opinions where necessary.

    Capabilities_B
    (above) Discussion on cross-learning from Professionals and Industry Experts at FTCD’s 2015 Work Plan
  5. Use of IT in Handling Electronic Evidence
    6.

    The Division has started using advanced software platforms such as the NUIX e-Discovery software to organise and process voluminous and complex electronic evidence that is typically encountered in complex financial crimes.

    Capabilities_C(above) Presentations at FTCD’s 2015 Work Plan

Key Figures for Calendar Year 2015

Key Figures for Calendar Year 2015 image*Inquiries include disposal inquiries, committees of inquiry and preliminary inquiries (now known as committal hearings).

**Other hearings include criminal motions, criminal revisions, criminal references and originating summonses.

Last updated / reviewed on 31 Dec 2015