SINGAPORE: A court fined a director of three foreign-incorporated companies on Thursday ( Dec. 7 ) after it was discovered that the businesses had been used to funnel US$ 49, 000 ( S$ 65, 800 ) from an American police scam.
Sathyanarayan Kannan, 46, was given a fine of S$ 5, 000 after admitting to one matter under the Companies Act of failing to exercise any control over the business in which he served as one of the directors.  ,
Two additional expenses of a similar nature involving two other corporations were taken into account.
The Singaporean was employed as a complex project manager, making S$ 7, 000 per month, when he was introduced to Karunamoorthy Thillainatarajan, another suspect.
Wisemans Corporate Service, a business that offered business office and candidate director services to businesses incorporated by immigrants in Singapore, had Karunamoorthy as its sole director and shareholder.
According to court documents, Wisemans assisted with the incorporation of two to three businesses on average each quarter, totaling between 250 and 300 customers.
Sathyanarayanan was asked by Karunamoorthy if he would like to work as a native chairman for some businesses in order to earn extra money. Sathyanarayanan would not have “any rankings and link to the economic operations of the company” as a native director, according to Karunamoorthy.
Sathyanarayanan consented to serve as the candidate director for Singaporean companies for foreigners without a producer who lived there.
According to the prosecution, this got around accounting and business specialist (ACRA ) regulatory needs to have at least one director who lives locally in Singapore.
Sathyanarayanan signed chairmanship documents for three businesses: High Innovations, Global Dealz, and Sapple Connects.
He did n’t have any duties as the director of these businesses, but he did make about S$ 1,500 per position. Through Wiseman, he was a candidate director for 15 companies in total.
In January 2020, Sapple Connects was absorbed, and its main operations were listed with ACRA as “wholesale business” of various products.
The company’s ultimate resident director was Sathyanarayanan, and Rahul Garg, an Indian national, was the other appointed director.
Before deciding to become a producer, Sathyanarayanan did not conduct any owing devotion checks. He had no idea what business or business the business operated in, was not involved in its management, or even knew that it had a bank account.
He had accepted the position for monetary gain and had no plans to carry out his responsibilities as a producer, according to the attorney.
In August 2020, he signed an indemnity type promising not to be involved in the company’s fiscal or administrative operations. Karunamoorthy informed him that this would release him from any company fines or obligations.
A DBS bank account may have received criminal proceeds from a scam in the United States, according to information provided to the Commercial Affairs Department ( CAD ) of the Singapore Police Force in October 2020.
John Cordell, a victim in the US, was duped into believing he was from the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) by someone who called him.
He was informed by the con artist that the FBI was luring a runaway and needed his assistance in sending cash. The FBI did give coined money to Mr. Cordell in exchange.
Mr. Cordell was defrauded of US$ 49, 000, which was transferred to Dhola Darshit Ghanshyambhai’s bank accounts.
The funds were then transferred to Global Dealz, next to High Innovations, through the bank accounts of Sapple Connects. All three of these businesses had Sathyanarayanan as a producer.
The ACRA registration has removed Sapple Connects.
Heershan Kaur, the deputy public prosecutor, requested a fine of between$ 4,000 and$ 5,000 as well as the suspension of his duties as director and participant in company management for two to three years.
She claimed that Sathyanarayanan had no control over the businesses ‘ operations, bank accounts, or other activities.
Instead, he just handed it off to Wisemans or the international producer.
According to Ms. Kaur, the accused woman’s choice to destroy his nose in sand was unacceptable.
An criminal may receive a fine of up to S 5,000 or been jailed for as long as one year for failing to conduct fair diligence in their capacity as director of the company.