Our Bureau
Singapore
Two Singaporean men of Indian descent were given prison sentences for defrauding individuals in the US through a minimum of 50 businesses. Two Singapore-based firms received a total of USD 1.063 million (equivalent to SGD 1.43 million) from victims of a scam, before transferring the funds to accounts in China and the United Arab Emirates.
According to the reports, Ishan Sharma, aged 34, received a four-week jail term. He admitted to committing two offenses under the Companies Act by encouraging his friend Kandhiban Letchumanansamy, 36, to neglect his duties as a director in both companies. Kandhiban received a one-week jail sentence. He admitted to one offense under the Act when he neglected to oversee the companies’ operations.
As per the news report, the court documents did not mention how the crimes were discovered. Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo emphasized that Sharma was the driving force behind these plans. He informed the court that the perpetrator made a total of SGD 12,000 from his crimes related to the two companies, which were funded with over USD 1 million from victims of the scam.
During the period of the crimes from 2019 to 2020, Sharma worked as a chartered accountant. In 2017, he discovered that Kandhiban was without a job and provided him with employment at a company known as Karmic Circle, giving him a monthly wage of SGD 500. As a condition of the agreement, Kandhiban had to be officially designated as a director of incorporated businesses. He consented to the agreement.
Sharma and Kandhiban proceeded to commit comparable crimes associated with Kiora Worldwide, which was established on November 3, 2019. In this instance, the court was informed that before November 2019, Aashish Nanda acquainted Sharma with another Indian citizen, known as Suchit Wadhawan. Sharma only met Wadhawan face-to-face in November 2019, following the establishment of Kiora Worldwide. The Indian citizen gave him SGD 6,000 in cash for goods and services provided. Kandhiban and Wadhawan were named as the directors of Kiora Worldwide, with Sharma listed as its secretary.
The funds in the bank accounts owned by Kiora Worldwide and other companies used for the scam like Quartz Resources were transferred to accounts owned by different companies in countries such as China and the UAE. The stolen funds were never recovered.
