Company And Man Convicted And Sentenced For Carrying On A Remittance Business Without A Valid Remittance License

On 2 August 2024, Wang Family Trading Pte Ltd ("Wang Family") and Wang Jung Ming @ Aung Thet Tun ("Bryan Wang") were convicted and sentenced to a fine of $10,000 and six weeks' imprisonment, respectively, for offences under the Money-changing and Remittance Businesses Act ("MCRBA") for carrying on a remittance business without a valid remittance license.

Investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department revealed that Wang Family was accorded preferential exchange rates for currency exchanges by the United Overseas Bank Limited ("UOB") in the course of its liquor import and export business.

In order to achieve higher transaction volumes to maintain Wang Family's preferential currency exchange rates with UOB, Wang Family participated in a currency exchange arrangement with a Burmese national known to Bryan Wang as Yusoof. Pursuant to the arrangement and under Yusoof's instructions, Wang Family accepted Singapore-denominated dollars ("SGD") into its bank account, converted them into US-denominated dollars ("USD"), and transferred the converted currencies to other persons, including residents in another country.

Between 1 October 2019 and 23 January 2020, Wang Family's bank account received a sum of SGD $16,466,905.44 from about 318 inward transfers and made about 295 outward transfers totalling USD $12,048,148.75 pursuant to Yusoof's instructions. Out of these, 219 transfers totalling USD $4,310,367.38 were made to recipients located overseas between 1 October 2019 and 16 January 2020.

Wang Family was charged with one count of an offence under Section 6(1) MCRBA punishable under Section 6(2) MCRBA, for carrying on a remittance business when it was not in possession of a valid remittance license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Bryan Wang, who was purporting to act as an officer of Wang Family at the material time, was charged with one count of an offence under Section 24(1) MCRBA read with Section 6(2) MCRBA. Yusoof remains out of jurisdiction.

The Police would like to remind members of the public to only use payment service providers licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Unlicensed payment service operators are not regulated and not subjected to strict anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism measures. The Police will not hesitate to take action against any individual or entity involved in providing any cross-border money transfer services, as they pose the risk of being conduits for money laundering and terrorism financing.