Hoping to earn some easy money, a Malaysian man agreed to help an Indian national deliver various sums of cash to persons in Singapore.
Earning an average of RM2,500 (S$850) a month, Abdul Jalil Sulaiman brought into Singapore nearly $12 million over almost eight months, without giving accurate declarations to officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint.
It is the highest amount of cash brought into Singapore
The 47-year-old father of six was jailed for three years yesterday, after he admitted to 30 charges involving bringing into Singapore a total of $5.8 million in cash. Seventy other similar charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.
The offences took place between Sept 4, 2013 and April 16, 2014.
Abdul Jalil claimed he worked for a person named Mohd Salim, an Indian national and Malaysian permanent resident, who owned about four to five money-changing shops.
He said that in 2013, Salim asked him to register two shell companies - Jamiz Man Solution and Jamiz Enterprise - and open bank accounts for them.
During the nearly eight-month period, Salim deposited money in the accounts and instructed Abdul Jalil to withdraw the cash and hand it to persons in Singapore, whose identities were unknown to Abdul Jalil.
Abdul Jalil would meet Salim after withdrawing the cash to collect a mobile phone with a Singapore-registered number, before bringing the cash into Singapore via the Woodlands Checkpoint.
He would then go to Serangoon Road near Mustafa Centre, and hand the cash to the unknown persons before returning to Malaysia.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Stacey Anne Fernandez said Abdul Jalil filed 106 cash movement reports during the period, 101 of which involved amounts of more than $30,000 each. The total amount declared in these 101 reports was about $12 million.
He made false declarations in various sections of the reports, including falsely stating the name of the person he got the cash from, the intended recipient, and the amount he was moving into Singapore.
Under the law, any person who moves into or out of Singapore physical currency and bearer negotiable instruments exceeding $20,000, or its equivalent in a foreign currency, is required to give a report in respect of the movements.
Pressing for a deterrent sentence, DPP Fernandez said the offences were pre-meditated and committed over an extended period of time.
She said Abdul Jalil was motivated by personal gain and his culpability was "moderate". He did not know where Salim got the money from, the source of it and why Salim passed him the cash.
Abdul Jalil said in mitigation that he did not know he would get into such "big trouble". He claimed that Salim had tempted him with money and had told him there would not be any problem if he declared the money.
He could have been fined up to $50,000 and/or jailed for up to three years on each charge.
