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Updated: 10/29/2013 15:12 | By Channel NewsAsia
Woman sentenced to 48 months' jail for money-laundering offences
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SINGAPORE: A hairstylist who thought she was helping an acquaintance will go to jail for 48 months for money-laundering offences.
35-year-old Gee Lee Cheng admitted to dishonestly receiving stolen property amounting to S$497,000 and carrying part of the money to Malaysia to pass to her friend, "Stephen".
The nine offences were committed in May last year.
The prosecution proceeded on three of the nine charges.
The court heard that Gee was contacted by "Stephen", whom she met in 2010.
"Stephen" had asked her for help in receiving the monies in her bank accounts, claiming they were meant for his business in Dubai.
She agreed and the money was transferred to her accounts.
While Gee had suspected that something was amiss, she was told by "Stephen" that the monies were legal.
Gee accepted the explanation at face value and subsequently withdrew the monies to bring over to "Stephen" in Malaysia.
He allowed Gee to keep S$8,000 for her help.
The remaining S$13,000 were left in the bank accounts and seized by authorities.
The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation had informed Singapore authorities in late May about the unauthorised transfers to bank accounts here.
Investigations found that a Mr Kenneth A Schlenker's email account was hacked into and the perpetrators instructed the First Interstate Bank of the USA to transfer the monies.
In submissions, prosecutor Joel Chen asked for a 24-month sentence for one of the three proceeded charges.
Defence lawyer Louis Joseph told the court in mitigation that his client was naive and foolish and had got herself into this situation.
But District Judge Liew Thiam Leng ordered Gee to go to jail for 48 months.
When asked, Mr Joseph described the sentence as "crushing" and said it was "manifestly excessive".
The defence is appealing against the sentence. - CNA/xq
