Foreign talent's contributions to Singapore

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S’pore-based Malaysian military contractor ‘Fat Leonard’ who bribed US Navy officers given 15 years’ jail​

Leonard Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering bribes to naval officers to steer work to his shipyards in Asia-Pacific ports. PHOTO: AFP

Nov 06, 2024

LOS ANGELES - Leonard Francis, the Malaysian military contractor known as “Fat Leonard”, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Nov 5 for his role in the US Navy’s worst-ever corruption scandal.
Francis, 60, was also ordered to pay US$20 million (S$26.4 million) in restitution to the US Navy by a federal judge in San Diego and to forfeit US$35 million in ill-gotten gains, said the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of California in a statement.
Francis, who ran a military contracting company, Glenn Defence Marine Asia, out of Singapore, was arrested in 2013.
He pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering bribes to naval officers to steer work to his shipyards in Asia-Pacific ports, then overcharging the navy to the tune of US$35 million.
According to court documents, Francis handed out more than US$500,000 in cash bribes and provided prostitutes, first-class travel, luxury hotel stays and lavish meals to naval officers, along with expensive gifts such as designer handbags and watches.
Francis had been scheduled to be sentenced in September 2022, but he cut off a GPS ankle bracelet he was wearing while under house arrest and fled to Venezuela.
He was returned to the United States from Venezuela in December 2023 in a prisoner swop between the two countries.

As part of a plea agreement, Francis provided government investigators with detailed information which led to the conviction of a number of high-ranking US Navy officers. AFP

 

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Jail, caning for man who raped masseuse after refusing to leave Geylang massage parlour​

Selina Lum
Senior Law Correspondent

Nov 11, 2024

SINGAPORE - A construction worker who did not have money to pay for a massage refused to leave a Geylang parlour when told to do so, and turned violent to get the masseuse to submit to him.
He straddled the woman across her chest, choked her with both his hands and slapped her multiple times before he forced her to perform a sex act on him.
On Nov 11, Prodhan Sajib, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi national, was sentenced to 10 years in jail and six strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to raping the 32-year-old victim, a Chinese national.
Two other charges – a second count of rape and a count of criminal trespass – were taken into consideration in sentencing.
The offences took place on the morning of May 18, 2022.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew told the High Court that at about 7.35am that day, Sajib arrived for work at a construction site in Geylang but left shortly after to buy some groceries.
At about 7.55am, the victim was sleeping in the massage parlour when she heard the doorbell. She saw Sajib standing outside and opened the glass door to let him in.

After Sajib indicated that he wanted a massage, the masseuse told him how much it would cost, but he did not have enough cash in his wallet to pay for it.
He then took out his bank card and gestured to the victim to swipe the card on the payment machine.
However, he refused to hand over his card, so the woman told him to leave. But Sajib refused to do so and locked the glass door instead.

He lifted the victim onto his shoulder and threw her on the massage bed located farthest away from the door, as she struggled and shouted for help.
He then straddled her and tried to strangle her, before pressing a towel over her face to stop her from shouting.
After a while, he removed the towel and placed his finger to his lips to gesture to the victim to keep quiet. He also made a swiping gesture across his neck, and made a stabbing motion.
DPP Chew said the victim became quiet as she was fearful that the man would kill her if she kept shouting.
While Sajib was undressing the victim, she pushed him away and made a run for it, but he caught up with her.
He pinned her to the floor, choked her and repeatedly slapped her, before he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

After the rape, the victim tried to run out of the shop, but Sajib pulled her back in.
She held on to the leg of one of the massage beds and grabbed her mobile phone, which was on the bed. When Sajib saw this, he tussled with her for the phone.
The woman eventually broke free and ran out of the shop with her phone.
As she stood outside trying to call for help, Sajib came out of the shop and continued trying to snatch the phone from her.
After failing to grab her phone, Sajib opened the door and gestured to the victim to return to the shop.
She hurried back into the shop and closed the door, and Sajib left the scene.
The victim made a police report in the early hours of May 19, 2022.
Later that day, the police arrested Sajib at his workplace, after identifying him from surveillance video footage.
While he was remanded in custody, Sajib told a psychiatrist that he had been taking sex enhancement medication for about two months prior to the incident.
DPP April Phang sought 10 to 11 years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane, highlighting that the use of excessive violence to commit the rape was an aggravating factor.

 

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Jail for man who molested 5 women, targeting 4 of them while out on bail​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Nov 11, 2024

SINGAPORE – A man molested a woman while she was waiting to enter the National Stadium for pop star Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert in March, and was arrested after the victim alerted a security officer.
While out on bail, Sameh Mohamed Kamal Farg went to a fast-food restaurant on May 12 and molested two more women. Eight days later, he outraged his fourth victim’s modesty on an MRT train.
The Egyptian national was charged in court in June and was again out on bail when he molested a fifth woman in August.
On Nov 11, Sameh, 44, was sentenced to seven months and two weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to three molestation charges. Two other charges were considered during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Claire Poh told the court that the first victim, 23, had joined a queue at the National Stadium at around 6pm on March 8 to watch the concert by American singer Swift.
Sameh, who was in the vicinity, decided to join the queue despite not having a ticket for the event. He then stood behind the first victim and molested her.
DPP Poh said: “When (she) turned around to confront the accused, he ran to a tree and hid behind it.
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“The first victim managed to approach a tourist who had filmed the accused standing close to the victim. She then asked the tourist to ‘airdrop’ the video on the tourist’s phone to her phone.”
The first victim told a security officer about what had happened when the concert ended, and the police arrested Sameh the next day.
While out on bail, he went to a fast-food restaurant in Marina Gardens Drive on May 12 and molested his second victim, 29, while she was queueing to order food at a kiosk.
After that, he molested his third victim, also 29, at the same eatery.
The second victim alerted the police on May 13 and officers managed to identify Sameh through footage from a CCTV camera.
The offender was travelling on a crowded MRT train on May 20 when he molested his fourth victim, 30, who lodged a police report the next day.
Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but Sameh was charged in court on June 5 before he was released on bail 21 days later.
Instead of keeping out of trouble, he reoffended yet again and molested his fifth victim on Aug 9 during the National Day celebrations in the Marina Bay area.
She alerted a security officer and Sameh was arrested soon after.

 

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Over 7 months’ jail for nursing home worker who molested male colleague​

Nadine Chua

Nov 11, 2024

SINGAPORE – A healthcare assistant working at a nursing home was sentenced to seven months and two weeks’ jail on Nov 11 for molesting his male colleague.
The Filipino, 30, pleaded guilty to one charge of using criminal force to molest the victim.
The offender and the nursing home cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identity of the 24-year-old victim.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Caleb Looi said the offender’s role as a healthcare assistant was to change diapers, feed, shower and provide medication to residents of the nursing home.
Investigations revealed that before the incident in October, the pair had a drinking session with other colleagues.
There, the offender confessed to the victim that he had fantasised about him and found him “cute”, to which the victim replied that he liked women.
On Oct 27 at around 3am, after drinking alcohol with several colleagues, the offender returned to his dormitory, where the victim also lived.

At around 5am, while the lights of the dormitory were off, he walked to the victim, who was asleep on his bed, and molested him over his boxers.
The prosecutor said the offender then attempted to reach beneath the boxers when the victim woke up and shouted.
The offender withdrew his hand, ran out of the dormitory room and hid.
Feeling unclean, the victim took two showers, and he reported the incident to his supervisor. The offender was arrested that same day.
Arguing for eight months’ jail, DPP Looi said the victim was asleep and was therefore vulnerable when the offence was committed.
“It is unclear how long the touching incident was, but the touch could not have been fleeting as it was sufficient to rouse the victim from his sleep,” the prosecutor added.
In mitigation, the offender, who was unrepresented, teared up as he apologised for his actions and pleaded for a light sentence.
For using criminal force to outrage the modesty of a person, an offender can be jailed for up to three years, fined, caned, or given any combination of such punishments.

 

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Singapore judge chides lawyer for convoluted mitigation filled with grammatical errors​

District Judge Lim said he had checked and confirmed with Mr Shanker that he himself had drafted the mitigation. PHOTO: PIXABAY

Samuel Devaraj

Nov 19, 2024

SINGAPORE - A judge chided a criminal lawyer for the poor quality of a written mitigation plea the latter submitted to the court on behalf of a client who admitted to a cheating charge.
In a judgment dated Nov 11, District Judge Lim Tse Haw said he told Mr A. Revi Shanker that his mitigation was “so convoluted and verbose” and filled with grammatical errors, that he had difficulty understanding what the lawyer was trying to submit.
The judge said: “Lawyers and prosecutors would do well to prepare their written submissions in plain English and (an) easy-to-read manner. This would save much valuable judicial time in reading and understanding the submissions.”
In order to understand the mitigation, he asked Mr Shanker to make an oral presentation in court.
Mr Shanker’s client Jeremy Francis Cruez was sentenced to six months’ jail in October. The 60-year-old Sri Lankan national had admitted to cheating his former company, Major’s Pest Management Services.
The prosecution had asked for a jail term of between 14 and 16 months, while Mr Shanker asked for a fine.

While both sides appealed the sentence, court records show that Cruez has since discontinued his appeal.

As a fumigation manager, Cruez was responsible for ensuring that the supplies required for fumigation works were obtained.
Between April 13, 2017 and Oct 22, 2019, he submitted fake or forged invoices to his company for fumigation-related supplies from six suppliers, seeking a total of $190,455.60. The amount was to be paid in cash.
In fact, Cruez had bought the supplies from other sources and marked up the prices in the fake or forged invoices by 5 per cent. He had intended to pocket the difference.

When he was questioned by the company’s managing director why the suppliers required cash payment, he explained that they had been paid in cash under Major’s previous managing director.
He provided e-mails from the suppliers who purportedly requested for payment in cash or for the cheque to be made out to a person called Myrna, who was stated to be an “executive in charge of accounts” in the e-mails. However, Myrna was his close friend who was working as a domestic helper.
Believing the ruse, the company disbursed $190,455.60 as payment for the supplies to either Cruez or Myrna.
In the judgment, District Judge Lim highlighted the first paragraph of Mr Shanker’s mitigation, which comprised a single sentence of 176 words.
In the paragraph, among many other points, Mr Shanker said his client had to “live at the mercy of friends and relatives whose assistance is only, not unexpectedly, thinning away such that his queues for food (breakfast, lunch and dinner) on a daily basis at religious place of worship and other organisations have become more frequent”.
District Judge Lim said he had checked and confirmed with Mr Shanker that he himself had drafted the mitigation.
To avoid any misunderstanding of the mitigation, the judge asked the lawyer to summarise orally at a hearing on Oct 22, 2024, what he was trying to submit.
Mr Shanker said during the hearing that Cruez was not qualifying his plea of guilt.
He added that his client had offered to make full restitution to Major’s Pest Management Services of the sum of $12,953.73, which was Cruez’s personal gains from the offence. But the offer was declined by the pest control company.
While rejecting the defence’s submission for a fine, District Judge Lim said the prosecution’s submission for 14 to 16 month’s jail was manifestly excessive.
“Had the accused pocketed the entire sum of $190,455.60 and left the company in a lurch by not carrying out any of the fumigation works, then perhaps a sentence of 14 to 16 months’ imprisonment as sought for by the prosecution would be appropriate,” he said.

The first paragraph of the mitigation plea that District Judge Lim Tse Haw deemed convoluted and verbose. PHOTO: COURT DOCUMENTS

 

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Jail for man who came to Singapore to collect more than $427k from 2 scam victims​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Nov 18, 2024

SINGAPORE – A Malaysian man helped a transnational crime syndicate to collect money from two Singaporean scam victims who were cheated of $501,151 in total.

From this amount, Garald Lim Chuen Wen collected $427,151 from the pair.

The court heard that his sole purpose for coming to Singapore was to collect the money in exchange for a financial reward.

According to Lim, he received around RM10,000 (S$3,000) as “commissions”.

On Nov 18, the 26-year-old man was sentenced to three years and nine months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to three counts of handling the benefits of criminal conduct involving $125,000 in total.

Four other charges, including those linked to the remaining amount, were considered during sentencing. Lim has not made any restitution.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lee told the court that in 2023, one of Lim’s friends introduced him to a job opportunity with a China-based group known as “OpenPay”.

As part of the job, he had to travel from his Kuala Lumpur home to Singapore and collect money from OpenPay’s clients late at night.

OpenPay’s representatives would directly liaise with the clients and inform him when and where to meet them.

Lim was told to wear a long-sleeved shirt when meeting the clients to convey a “professional image”.


He was also expected to convert the clients’ monies to cryptocurrency stablecoin Tether (USDT).

After that, he had to transfer 99 per cent of the USDT received to OpenPay’s cryptocurrency wallet, allowing the group to have access to the funds outside Singapore.

Lim managed to find a cryptocurrency moneychanger in Singapore and he then received the remaining 1 per cent of the USDT as a reward for his contribution.

The cryptocurrency moneychanger would transfer this sum to Lim’s cryptocurrency wallet, the court heard.

The DPP said: “The accused stated that he believed OpenPay to be in the business of operating unregulated online casinos and gambling websites.

“The accused added that he believed the money he was assisting OpenPay to collect was likely to be from illegal means.”

One of the victims, a 49-year-old woman, was cheated of $363,000.

She told investigators that she had befriended a person known as “Henry An” on March 19, 2024, via instant messaging platform WeChat.

“Henry An” then told her about an “investment opportunity” for which she had to download an application called GSDNE from the Apple Store.

He also told her that she could fund her GSDNE investment account by either making transfers via PayNow to various bank accounts or by meeting a “GSDNE employee” and passing the money to that person.

The woman funded her GSDNE investment account with $70,000 via PayNow, and handed over another $293,000 through the second method.

The “GSDNE employee” turned out to be Lim, stated court documents.

She passed him the $293,000 on four separate occasions in April 2024. Each transaction involved between $50,000 and $100,000.

The woman alerted the police on April 28. Court documents did not disclose what spurred her to do so.

On May 2, Lim travelled from Malaysia to Canberra Link near Sembawang Road to collect money from her. He was arrested later that day.
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Meanwhile, the second victim, a 62-year-old woman, who was cheated of $138,151, told investigators that she befriended someone via WeChat in March 2024.

This unknown person also told her about an “investment opportunity” with GSDNE and she agreed to be part of it.

She funded her GSDNE investment account with $4,000 via PayNow. She also passed the remaining $134,151 to Lim over three occasions in April and May, with each transaction involving between $25,000 and $59,151.

She lodged a police report on May 9.

On Nov 18, defence lawyers Josephus Tan and Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation pleaded for Lim to be given up to two years and two months’ jail.

They added: “In fact, we stand to be corrected that Garald was the only person arrested for this part of the case and his cooperation all along has thus been key to solving the case.”

The lawyers also stressed that Lim had been cooperative with the authorities.

 

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cooper

Jail for man who came to Singapore to collect more than $427k from 2 scam victims​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Court Correspondent

Nov 18, 2024

SINGAPORE – A Malaysian man helped a transnational crime syndicate to collect money from two Singaporean scam victims who were cheated of $501,151 in total.

From this amount, Garald Lim Chuen Wen collected $427,151 from the pair.

The court heard that his sole purpose for coming to Singapore was to collect the money in exchange for a financial reward.

According to Lim, he received around RM10,000 (S$3,000) as “commissions”.

On Nov 18, the 26-year-old man was sentenced to three years and nine months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to three counts of handling the benefits of criminal conduct involving $125,000 in total.

Four other charges, including those linked to the remaining amount, were considered during sentencing. Lim has not made any restitution.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lee told the court that in 2023, one of Lim’s friends introduced him to a job opportunity with a China-based group known as “OpenPay”.

As part of the job, he had to travel from his Kuala Lumpur home to Singapore and collect money from OpenPay’s clients late at night.

OpenPay’s representatives would directly liaise with the clients and inform him when and where to meet them.

Lim was told to wear a long-sleeved shirt when meeting the clients to convey a “professional image”.


He was also expected to convert the clients’ monies to cryptocurrency stablecoin Tether (USDT).

After that, he had to transfer 99 per cent of the USDT received to OpenPay’s cryptocurrency wallet, allowing the group to have access to the funds outside Singapore.

Lim managed to find a cryptocurrency moneychanger in Singapore and he then received the remaining 1 per cent of the USDT as a reward for his contribution.

The cryptocurrency moneychanger would transfer this sum to Lim’s cryptocurrency wallet, the court heard.

The DPP said: “The accused stated that he believed OpenPay to be in the business of operating unregulated online casinos and gambling websites.

“The accused added that he believed the money he was assisting OpenPay to collect was likely to be from illegal means.”

One of the victims, a 49-year-old woman, was cheated of $363,000.

She told investigators that she had befriended a person known as “Henry An” on March 19, 2024, via instant messaging platform WeChat.

“Henry An” then told her about an “investment opportunity” for which she had to download an application called GSDNE from the Apple Store.

He also told her that she could fund her GSDNE investment account by either making transfers via PayNow to various bank accounts or by meeting a “GSDNE employee” and passing the money to that person.

The woman funded her GSDNE investment account with $70,000 via PayNow, and handed over another $293,000 through the second method.

The “GSDNE employee” turned out to be Lim, stated court documents.

She passed him the $293,000 on four separate occasions in April 2024. Each transaction involved between $50,000 and $100,000.

The woman alerted the police on April 28. Court documents did not disclose what spurred her to do so.

On May 2, Lim travelled from Malaysia to Canberra Link near Sembawang Road to collect money from her. He was arrested later that day.
More On This Topic
Duo who sold WhatsApp accounts to scammers nabbed; over 6,800 SIM cards, 15 phones seized
Jail for woman who let her firm’s bank account receive scam benefits totalling over $1m
Meanwhile, the second victim, a 62-year-old woman, who was cheated of $138,151, told investigators that she befriended someone via WeChat in March 2024.

This unknown person also told her about an “investment opportunity” with GSDNE and she agreed to be part of it.

She funded her GSDNE investment account with $4,000 via PayNow. She also passed the remaining $134,151 to Lim over three occasions in April and May, with each transaction involving between $25,000 and $59,151.

She lodged a police report on May 9.

On Nov 18, defence lawyers Josephus Tan and Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation pleaded for Lim to be given up to two years and two months’ jail.

They added: “In fact, we stand to be corrected that Garald was the only person arrested for this part of the case and his cooperation all along has thus been key to solving the case.”

The lawyers also stressed that Lim had been cooperative with the authorities.

cooperation does not exonerate his heinous crime