SINGAPORE: A man who played a middleman to facilitate applications for work permits and harvest bank accounts in Singapore for a Sarawak-based syndicate was sentenced to jail on Thursday (Oct 22) for six years and one month.
Ong Toon Nong, a 41-year-old Malaysian national, was also fined S$6,000 (US$4,700).
The transnational syndicate offered money to Malaysians to open bank accounts in Singapore for illegal use, such as for scams.
These money mules needed work permits to enter Singapore and open the bank accounts, so Ong brokered a deal that would earn him S$200 for each work permit that was successfully applied for.
He intentionally facilitated the entry of 27 Malaysian money mules into Singapore and was responsible for cheating six banks in Singapore into opening a total of 107 bank accounts in the names of these money mules.
Ong did so knowing that the bank accounts would be handed over to the syndicate for illegal use, court documents said.
In the end, more than S$1.84 million flowed through these bank accounts, out of which around S$20,300 was traced to scam reports.
Ong was arrested on Aug 29, 2024.
He pleaded guilty to eight charges, including offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits), the Computer Misuse Act, as well as the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, with 34 other charges taken into consideration.
Ong has filed an appeal against his sentence.
HELPED APPLY FOR WORK PERMITS
Sometime in May 2024, a member of the syndicate informed Ong that he was looking for companies in Singapore to apply for work permits for Malaysians.
Ong was informed that the work permits were for the sole purpose of allowing Malaysians to enter Singapore and open bank accounts, and that the Malaysians had no intention of working in Singapore.
The accounts would be used for illegal purposes, such as for online casinos and online gambling.
Ong acted as a middleman between this member of the syndicate and a Singaporean who was in the business of making work permit applications.
The other two people communicated through Ong, including information such as medical documents and photographs of the passports of the Malaysian money mules, and instructions on which banks to open accounts with and to cancel work permits once the bank accounts were harvested.
For each successful work permit application, the syndicate member would pay Ong S$1,800, of which S$1,600 would be given to the Singaporean making work permit applications.
Ong entered into the arrangement because he saw an opportunity to earn money. He received a total of between S$5,000 and S$6,000 for the four months he was part of the syndicate.