District Judge Luke Tan:
Introduction
The accused, Zkert M Rushdi, is a 56-year-old Russian national. He was alleged to have come to Singapore on several occasions to open corporate bank accounts in the name of Singapore incorporated shell companies for the purpose of cross-border money laundering.
Before me, he claimed trial to a total of 30 charges (“proceeded charges”). These consisted of 22 charges under section 471 read with section 465 and 109 of the Penal Code (PC) (“the forgery charges”), and 8 charges under s 44(1)(a) and punishable under s 44(5)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (“the CDSA”) read with s 108B and s 109 of the PC (“the CDSA charges”).
Much of the Prosecution’s evidence was uncontested. The main dispute was over whether the mens rea of the offences had been successfully established.
At the end of the trial, I was satisfied that the Prosecution had discharged its burden to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt and the accused was convicted on all 30 proceeded charges. After an initial refusal to do so, the accused subsequently consented to the Prosecution’s offer to have another 13 charges taken into consideration for purpose of sentencing. These charges (“the TIC charges”) consisted of the following: 6 similar forgery charges under s 471 read with ss 465 and 109 of the PC; 4 similar CDSA charges under s 44(1)(a) and punishable under s 44(5)(a) of the CDSA read with s 108B and s 109 PC; and 3 charges of cheating under s 417 read with s 109 of the PC.
The Prosecution initially sought a global sentence of 90 months’ imprisonment. Upon the accused’s consent to the remaining TIC charges, the Prosecution argued that as they involved an additional sum of USD333,033.80 in criminal proceeds, the global sentence should be increased to 96 months’ imprisonment.
Having considered the facts of the case, the sentencing submissions and precedents tendered, as well as the matter raised by the accused in mitigation, I sentenced him to a global sentence of 88 months’ imprisonment.
The accused has filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
For the purposes of these Grounds of Decision, as there was essentially no dispute over the legal elements that had to be satisfied in respect of the 30 charges, and as the bulk of the Prosecution’s evidence was also not disputed by the accused, I will give an overview of the proceeded charges and evidence before discussing in greater detail my findings on the relevant issues. In my judgment, I will also make reference to the relevant parts of the evidence, the Prosecution’s submissions and also to the arguments put forward by the accused, in order to explain why I found that the case against the accused had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Overview of the proceeded charges and the evidence
As stated above, the accused faced two types of charges: (a) forgery charges, and (b) CDSA charges. To recap, these consisted of: Forgery Charges: 22 charges of abetment by intentional aiding to fraudulently use as genuine documents, which he had reason to believe to be forged, for the purpose of opening bank accounts. These are offences under s 471 read with ss 465 and 109 of the PC; and CDSA charges: 8 charges of engaging in a conspiracy with a person known as Iho, and with Iho’s customers, to be concerned in an arrangement, having reasonable grounds to believe that by the arrangement, the control of their benefits of criminal conduct was facilitated, and having reasonable grounds to believe that the said Iho and Iho’s customers had engaged in criminal conduct. In pursuance of that conspiracy, the accused had assisted in opening several bank accounts in Singapore to be used by Iho and Iho’s customers to receive overseas fund transfers between August and September 2016, which sums the accused had reasonable grounds to believe were their benefits from criminal conduct. These are offences under s 44(1)(a) and punishable under s 44(5)(a) of the CDSA read with s 108B and s 109 PC.
In essence, the Prosecution’s case was that: The accused worked for a man known as ‘Iho’ or ‘Ihad/Ihab Khalil’ (hereafter “Iho”) and helped Iho and Iho’s customers to open corporate bank accounts for shell companies set up in Singapore. To do this, the accused worked with a local corporate service provider DM Advisory Pte Ltd (“DM Advisory”) and recruited European nationals and a Singaporean nominee to be directors of two shell companies, Plutusteam and Birseltex. The accused also provided forged supporting documents to the foreign directors to fraudulently use as genuine in order to deceive the banks into believing that they possessed legitimate and genuine businesses overseas to support their applications to open the corporate bank accounts. These were the subject matters of the 22 forgery charges. The accused admitted in his statements that the foreign directors were merely lending their names as directors of these shell companies, and that they did not run the businesses as purported in the forged documents. Instead, it was Iho who instructed him to set up the shell companies. It was also ‘Iho’ who provided the forged documents, and controlled the shell companies. The bank accounts opened in the names of these shell companies were controlled by Iho and his customers from overseas, rather than by their listed directors. These accounts were used to receive and transfer benefits of criminal conduct of these persons arising from predicate crimes (essentially cheating) committed in three foreign countries, namely, Australia, Bermuda and Indonesia. These were the subject matters of the 8 CDSA charges.
A broad overview of the 30 proceeded charges is as follows:
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| Company | Bank account | 8 counts of s 44(1)(a) punishable under s 44(5)(1) CDSA charges | 22 counts of s 471 read with ss 465 and 109 Penal Code charges |
| Glidertex Pte Ltd (“Glidtertex”) | UOB account number XXX in the name of Glidertex (“Glidertex UOB Account”) | USD151,136.75 transferred by Australian victim, Paccon Logistics Pty Ltd, into Glidertex UOB account on 23 August 2016. | (none) |
| Plutusteam Pte Ltd (“Plutusteam”) | UOB account number XXX in the name of Plutusteam Pte Ltd (“Plutusteam UOB Account”) | USD 48,500 transferred by Indonesian victim PT Maskapai Pelayaran Pulau Laut into Plutusteam UOB Account. On 18 August 2016. | 13 forged documents provided as supporting documents to open Plutusteam UOB Account. |
| USD 37,450 transferred by PT Maskapai Pelayaran Pulau Laut into Plutusteam UOB Account on 29 September 2016. |
| Birseltex Global Pte Ltd (“Birseltex”) | DBS account number XXX in the name of Birseltex Global Pte Ltd (“Birseltex DBS Account”) | USD 38,972 transferred by Australian victim Cardioscan Pty Ltd into Birseltex DBS Account on 6 September 2016. | 9 forged documents provided as supporting documents to open Birseltex DBS Account. |
| USD 4,978.59 transferred by Bermudan victim Astoria Michelle Edwards into Birseltex DBS Account on 14 September 2016. |
| USD 10,750 transferred by Bermudan victim Astoria Michelle Edwards into Birseltex DBS Account on 14 September 2016. |
| USD 5,000 transferred by transferred by Bermudan victim Astoria Michelle Edwards into Birseltex DBS Account on 16 September 2016. |
| Botitex Ltd (“Botitex”) | DBS account number XXX in the name of Botitex Limited (“Botitex DBS Account”) | USD 31,000 transferred by PT Maskapai Pelayaran Pulau Laut into Botitex DBS Account on 7 September 2016 | (none) |
To prove its case, the Prosecution called the following witnesses:
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| S/N | Name | Role | Witness number |
| 1. | Tan Shu Xian | Investigation Officer | PW1 |
| 2. | Astoria Michelle Edwards | Victim from Bermuda | PW2 |
| 3. | Mr Peter De Bock | Representative of the Australian victim (Paccon Logistics Pty Ltd) | PW3 |
| 4. | Norhaza Bte Said | Employee from marketing department of Eng Lee Shipping | PW4 |
| 5. | Huang Liyu | Investigation Officer | PW5 |
| 6. | Mr Geoffrey Nicholls | Representative of the Australian victim (Paccon Logistics Pty Ltd) | PW6 |
| 7. | Abdul Murad Abdul Latiff | Technology Crime Investigation Branch (TFCB) forensics officer | PW7 |
| 8. | Chew Min | Investigation Officer | PW8 |
| 9. | Wong Poh Kiong | Local (Passive) Director for the companies | PW9 |
| 10. | Amelia Teo Hui Xing | UOB relationship manager | PW10 |
| 11. | Magdalene Ng Meijuan | DBS relationship manager | PW11 |
| 12. | Melvin Lee Wei Run | Director of DM Advisory who started company with PW13 Darrel Tan | PW12 |
| 13. | Darrel Tan Hock Keat | Director of DM Advisory. He assisted the accused to incorporate Glidertex, Plutusteam and Birseltex, and to open company bank accounts in Singapore. | PW13 |
| 14. | Tan Yi Zhen | Investigation Officer | PW14 |
The Prosecution also tendered over a hundred separate exhibits, consisting of bank documents, email correspondence, chat logs, CD-Roms, statements of the accused etc. These included the following: Exhibits relating to forgery and CDSA charges for Birseltex, including: Documents that were purportedly related to a business known as Cim Jack Trading, which itself was supposedly a business in Europe that was associated with one Birsel Cimen, the named foreign director of Birseltex. These documents were for Birsel Cimen to represent to the bank that she was genuinely running the business, Cim Jack Trading, so she could have a bank account opened in Singapore for Birseltex. Bank documents for Birseltex, and documents evidencing transfer of monies to Birseltex’s accounts; and Emails between the accused and PW13 Darrel Tan Hock Keat (“Darrel”), and between Darrel and PW11 Magdalene Ng Meijuan...
