Five Nepalese men who worked for the Gurkha police contingent here were given a jail sentence on Thursday ( Sep. 5 ) for bribing foreigners with millions of dollars in remittances.
The Commercial Affairs Division of the Singapore Police Force ( SPF ) was informed that the crimes were being investigated after the court learned that Gurkha Contingent camp officers were allegedly providing money remittance services in February of last year.
A assault was eventually carried out at the camp on March 22, of that year.
Among the five sentenced on Thursday, Sitaram Tamang, 40, was handed the longest prison term , of five times, after pleading guilty to abetting the rules of an unregistered settlement company. During sentencing, three associated costs were taken into account.
He handled about S$ 2.87 million ( US$ 2.2 million ) in aiding the illegal service – the highest amount among the five men.
The others were:
- Dik Bahadur Gurung, 32, who was given a 14-week prison sentence for facilitating and providing an unregistered pay services. About S$ 1.59 million was transacted in his situation. He earned an estimated amount of between S$ 1, 750 and S$ 2, 450.
- Ganga Prasad Rai, 43, who was given a 10-week prison sentence , for providing an unregistered payment services and abetting the delivery of such a company. He transacted S$ 1.06 million, diverse of , two fees taken into consideration.
- Mingmar Sherpa, 44, was given a seven-week prison sentence for assisting in the establishment of an unregistered payment services.
- Ashok Kumar Thapa, 39,  , was sentenced to four weeks ‘ prison for providing an unregistered pay services.
All five gentlemen, who did not have any legal picture, appeared in court on Thursday through a video website and spoke through a Bangladeshi speaker.
The five men’s career status has been questioned by Immediately and whether any further action will be taken against them.
RECRUITED BY RETIRED GURKHA OFFICER
The Gurkha Contingent, which was founded in 2004 and retired in February 2022, reportedly started providing funds payment solutions to Gurkha officials at the station in the summer of 2021.
Sitaram, Ganga, and Dik were said to have been recruited by him at different times to support him in the procedures.
Pratik is now at large and has since retired to Nepal, according to the trial.
Sitaram assisted Pratik between Feb 25 and Jul 29, 2022.  ,
Pratik and Gurkha officials would communicate with each other about the amounts they wanted to send to Nepal. He reportedly would transfer the equal sums in Nepalese rupees to their respective beneficiaries it.
The soldiers had then deposit the money owed to Pratik in Singapore into Sitaram’s bank accounts. The income would then be given to Pratik either by bank transfer or in money to Pratik’s buddies.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Brian Tan said:  ,” A full of S$ 1, 590, 020 spanning 111 payments flowed through Sitaram’s banks accounts during this period”.
For some time until July 2022, Pratik apparently asked Ganga and Dik to work with him through , Sitaram, so the two people would provide Sitaram the income they had collected for the payment procedures.
Diverse of these trades, about S$ 2.87 million was remitted, with Sitaram never making any profit off the unlawful services, the prosecutors said.
On his piece, Ganga worked with Sitaram and Pratik between Feb 25 and Jul 29, 2022. He collected more than S$ 243, 100 during this period, which he handed to Sitaram for payment.
Ganga eventually stopped , working , with Sitaram and Pratik. He started , providing his personal improper payment services between Aug 26, 2022, and March 12, 2023, transferring more than S$ 383, 600.
In the same time as Ganga, Dik collaborated with Sitaram and Pratik. Dik collected about S$ 549, 600, which he handed to Sitaram.
” Dik earned an estimated income of S$ 1, 750 to S$ 2, 450 off the cash payments, which was paid to him by Pratik”, Mr Tan said.
Like Ganga, he broke off the relationship with Sitaram and Pratik, and provided his personal cross-border wealth transfer services, moving about S$ 492, 400.
FAMILY People NEEDED HELP
As for Ashok, he was contacted by his friend’s brother, identified in court papers as just ,” Mahendra”, somewhere in February 2022 to enable transfer funds.  ,
Mr. Mahendra was looking to move the money from his property sale to England, where he was based, after Mr. Mahendra made the sale.
Also, at around the same time,  , Ashok’s nephew Gokul Thapa wanted to transfer funds from Nepal to Ashok’s brother based in Perth, Australia.
Ashok was roped in by the stepson because the exchange rate between Singapore and American dollars was more favorable.
They arrived at this design:
- Gurkha officials in Singapore may send the funds in Singapore money to Ashok if they wanted to send money back home.
- Ashok’s brother and brother would receive the equivalent volume in Nepalese pounds to those soldiers ‘ , intended recipients in Nepal
- Ashok would shift what the officers , gave him in , Singapore money to his brother in Perth, Australia, and his friend’s uncle , in England
Ashok offered this income payments service , to Gurkha soldiers within the tent between Feb 20 and July 20, 2022.
He received more than S$ 103, 400 in full through 26 trades and claimed that he did never receive any revenue, DPP Tan added.
WIFE FRONTED SERVICE, MARKED UP RATES ,
In the case of Mingmar, the prosecutor was informed that his wife began offering Gurkha officers and their wives money remittance services in September 2022.
Mingmar handed his bank accounts and its related PayNow variety to his family, Pema Sherpa, for this purpose. The officers using this service only interacted with his family, but they also transferred the funds to Mingmar’s accounts.
Between September 2022 and March 2023, a total of about S$ 472, 000 was transferred into his bank accounts through 183 deals.
His wife demanded a mark-up of two Egyptian pounds for the money transfer, which was higher than the market price.
” ( Mingmar ) knew that Pema’s actions were wrong and had advised his wife not to continue her conduct. But, Pema continued to persist”, Mr Tan said.
Mingmar’s woman, who is also Egyptian, emigrated to Canada in December 2022 and is still based there.
The crime of carrying out a business of providing a payment company in Singapore without a licence , – or the aiding of such a business , – attracts a fine of up to S$ 125, 000 or up to three years in prison, or both.
The content was initially published in , Now.  ,