SINGAPORE – A jewellery shop was charged on May 7 with not performing the required checks when it sold gold jewellery and a gold bar for over $313,000 to an unidentified person, when there was reason to suspect money laundering.
Kim Heng Jewellers & Goldsmiths at People’s Park Complex in Chinatown was handed three charges for failing to undertake prescribed customer due-diligence measures, after the money it received was linked to scams.
In a joint statement, the police and the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said that between September and October 2023, the police received reports of phishing scams involving malware installed on victims’ Android phones.
There were unauthorised bank transactions made from the victims’ compromised accounts, the statement said.
The money was then traced to three sale transactions between Kim Heng and an unidentified person.
“The precious stones and precious metals regulated dealer allegedly failed to perform prescribed customer due-diligence measures when there was reason to suspect money laundering,” said the police and MinLaw.
According to court documents, one of the transactions took place on or around Sept 15, 2023, and involved a gold rope chain sold for $28,000.
Another transaction involved seven items, including a gold 24-karat rope chain and a gold abacus pendant that were sold for $173,295 on or around Sept 16, 2023.
The final transaction took place on or around Oct 2, 2023, and involved a gold bar and a 24-karat gold rope chain that were sold for $112,332.
The case has been adjourned to June 10.
MinLaw said it conducts supervisory inspections of precious stones and precious metals regulated dealers to ensure compliance with requirements, including the need to undertake the prescribed customer due-diligence measures, and that it will continue to take action against those found to have breached them.
In August 2023, MinLaw sent a notice to dealers of precious metals and stones with the names of 34 individuals who could be linked to suspicious transactions.
The list included the 10 foreigners who were charged that month in relation to Singapore’s largest money laundering case. Five of them have since been convicted of various offences, while the cases against the other five are pending.
In the notice, the dealers were told to review “transactions and business relations to assess if there are any reasonable grounds to suspect criminal conduct, including money laundering in connection with the police investigation”.
