SINGAPORE: The couple allegedly at the centre of a multi-million-dollar luxury goods fraud on Friday (Aug 16) were purchased to remain on remand as investigations in to the case continue.
Singaporean Pi Jiapeng and his spouse, Thai national Siriwipa Pansuk, are accused of deceiving Tradenation customers into paying for luxury watches they did not intend to deliver.
The couple, both 27, also allegedly scammed customers of their some other luxury goods firm Tradeluxury into purchasing luxury handbags.
The alleged offences took place between Might 28, 2021 and Jun 27 this season, according to court documents. Victims reported losses of more than S$20 million.
The couple made an appearance in court via video link from prison, wearing red polo shirts.
Both have been on remand to assist with investigations. The prosecution previously described the case since “complex” and said additional time was needed to determine the whereabouts from the money.
Upon Friday, Deputy General public Prosecutor David Koh said that Pi and Pansuk no longer had to be remanded in a specific prison division to assist with investigations.
However , both will remain on remand in prison as a judge earlier ordered that they are not to be offered bail given the trip risk.
The particular couple face charges of illegally causing Singapore via Tuas Checkpoint on Jul 4, after Professional indemnity had been arrested and while Pansuk was helping with investigations.
They were on the run for approximately five weeks before being arrested in Malaysia and handed over in order to Singapore police on August 11.
Mister Koh on Friday also requested a good adjournment of six weeks as investigations are still ongoing.
The particular judge noted that the prosecution previously indicated that investigations had been likely to be “protracted” given the number of allegations.
The prosecution got described the cheating charges against Professional indemnity and Pansuk as “holding charges” , incorporating that investigations were still at an early stage.
Pi and Pansuk may return to court in October for a pre-trial conference, an administrative hearing in which the prosecution and protection meet a judge to manage the improvement of the case.
Pi is represented by lawyer Bhargavan Sujatha and Pansuk by lawyer Johannes Hadi.