Singapore Court Sentences 2 Indian Nationals Involved In Illicit Remittances

Singapore: A Singapore court on Friday sentenced two Indian nationals to different terms of imprisonment for allegedly withdrawing funds from migrant workers' bank accounts and illegally sending remittances to India, a local media reported.

Cousins Angappan Arivalagan, 33, and Durairaj Kulothungan, 27, did not have licences that entitled them to carry out cross-border money transfer services and were convicted under the relevant acts, according to a report by The Straits Times.

Arivalagan was sentenced to 15 months and three weeks’ jail with a fine of SGD 6,000, while Kulothungan was handed a jail term of eight months and three weeks. The illicit transaction involved buying items with the cash Arivalagan collected from the workers and moving the items overseas, where these objects were sold for a profit.

During the COVID-19 period, Arivalagan convinced several workers living in the same dormitory as him that he could withdraw money on their behalf and arrange for the funds to be sent to India, the daily reported. Kulothungan started working for him in March 2023 by helping to make daily withdrawals using the workers’ ATM cards, it added.

In July 2023, a bystander spotted Kulothungan withdrawing large sums of cash from a Plaza Singapura ATM and called the police. Officers arrested him on-site, seizing 51 ATM cards and nearly SGD 75,000 in cash. Arivalagan was arrested the following month.

Deputy public prosecutors Daphne Lim and Teng Yin Hang said that from January to March 12, 2023, a total of SGD4,099,305 was illegally remitted from 28 bank accounts, while SGD6,166,515 was illegally remitted from 33 bank accounts from March 13 to July 2023.

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