SINGAPORE: A director of a company that provides corporate services was on Friday (Feb 23) sentenced to jail for his role in helping a person incorporate several firms in Singapore that later received benefits of criminal conduct worth more than US$700,000 (S$986,000).
Tan Hock Keat, 37, was handed a jail term of three years, two months and six weeks.
The Malaysian was a director of DM Advisory, which provides corporate secretarial services.
Between March 2017 and May 2017, he assisted an individual purportedly known as George Clarke to incorporate several companies in Singapore, including Temco Industrial and Integrated Invest.
After helping to set up corporate bank accounts for the companies, he handed over control to Clarke.
“These corporate bank accounts were subsequently used to receive benefits from criminal conduct amounting to approximately US$734,389.80,” the police said on Friday.
Tan had also engaged other people as directors of three of his clients’ companies – Modelana Trading, Compiko and Qian Ye – even though he knew that they would not exercise reasonable diligence in their duties as directors.
“As a consequence of the arrangement, the companies’ bank accounts received benefits from criminal conduct amounting to approximately US$3,350,000, the police said.
Tan was sentenced to two counts of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct and three counts of abetting others to fail to exercise reasonable diligence in the discharge of their duties as a director.
The police said they take a serious view of these offences and “will not relent in taking tough enforcement action against offenders”.
“Individuals should not be a director of a company when they have limited or no control or oversight of the company, as the company may be used to facilitate illicit activities such as the laundering of criminal proceeds,” the police added.