4 money changers fined for not keeping complete transaction records
Posted: 20 February 2013 1352 hrs
SINGAPORE: Four money changers have been fined a total of S$69,000 for failing to keep complete records of their transactions.
Amir Hamja Shaik Dawood, 84, Sheik Allavudeen SS Omar, 53, and Nizamudeen DM Syed Ahmad, 52, admitted to one count of failing to record identities of their customers who exchanged a total of 680,000 Fijian dollars (about S$470,000) in August 2010.
They made a total profit of S$11,500 from the transactions.
On Wednesday, each of them was fined S$15,000.
A fourth accused, Abdul Jaleel NK Mohamed Ali, 52, pleaded guilty to two counts of not keeping complete records of the transactions, which amounted to almost 340,000 Fijian dollars.
He made a profit of about S$9,600 from the transactions and was fined S$24,000.
Under the Money-Changing and Remittance Businesses Act, money changers must keep complete records and include the identities of customers who exchange currencies worth more than S$5,000.
The district judge said the four men should have been aware that they have to keep records and be alert when customers arrive with huge sums of freshly-minted notes.
The judge pointed out that their failure to keep complete records had impeded investigations and efforts by the authorities to trace the money.
In September 2010, Interpol Suva Fiji sent out an alert that one million Fijian dollars had been stolen from the Reserve Bank of Fiji's consignment on board a vessel.
Singapore authorities had been asked to assist.
Investigations showed that in mid-August 2010, a container with 127 cases of newly-printed Fijian dollars was loaded onto a vessel berthed at Jurong Port.
But three workers made off with one million Fijian dollars (nearly S$700,000) before the vessel left for Fiji.
The authorities found that they exchanged a large amount of the stolen money in Singapore themselves and through their accomplices.
The authorities are still working to trace the money and the thieves.
- CNA/al
They are good at that
