An unemployed Singaporean woman was on Wednesday, Aug 30
sentenced to 29 months in jail for knowingly helping her Nigerian
boyfriend receive money from scams.
Hasanah Abdullah, now 44, pleaded guilty to two counts each
of assisting another person to retain benefits of criminal conduct,
removing the ill-gotten gains out of Singapore and dishonestly receiving
stolen property. She also earned a commission for assisting him in his
criminal activities.
Nineteen other charges, mainly for similar offences, were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Hasanah, who committed the offences between April 2014 and
June 2015, moved to Malaysia in 2013 and fell in love with Richard Osaza
after meeting him there.
In December 2013, he asked her to provide him with bank
accounts in Singapore to receive monies on his behalf - purportedly for
his clothing business.
However, when she asked, he was unable to show her any
proof of it. Despite this, she agreed to help, and allowed him to use
her bank accounts.
Between April 19 and Dec 30, 2014, Hasanah allowed Osaza to
make use of bank accounts belonging to both her and her daughter. Deputy
Public Prosecutor Chong Yonghui said:
"As Hasanah continued to receive money for Richard, Hasanah
suspected that Richard was, in fact, a scammer and the money that she
was receiving on his behalf were the benefits of his criminal conduct.
"Hasanah's suspicion turned out to be correct as Richard
subsequently introduced Hasanah to a number of his Nigerian friends who
were all scammers."
Instead of cutting ties with him, Hasanah negotiated with
Osza on the quantum of commission she could receive for her role in
their criminal activities.
"It was finally agreed between Hasanah and Richard that she
would receive a commission of between 1 and 5 per cent for helping
Richard receive and transfer the benefits of his criminal conduct," said
DPP Chong.
As part of the agreement, the Nigerians would inform
Hasanah whenever cash was deposited into her bank accounts. She would
then withdraw the money and hand the sum over to Osza in Malaysia after
deducting a cut for her commission.
She earned between $50,000 and $60,000 in commission. The victims' monies have not been recovered, the court heard.
In December 2014, Singapore police asked Hasanah to assist
them in their investigations as they had received several reports
involving her bank accounts. Officers also warned her not to allow
others to use the accounts.
She ignored their warning and used a friend's account to
continue receiving and transferring the benefits of Osza's criminal
conduct.
According to court documents, Hasanah received $416,370.63 and transferred $305,307.63 in all.
DPP Chong told District Judge Luke Tan on Wednesday that Hasanah was also uncooperative and provided misleading evidence to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
Hasanah, who was unrepresented in court, was supposed to
give a statement to the CAD on May 18, 2015. But she failed to turn up
and remained uncontactable.
A check with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority
revealed that she had left Singapore. She was arrested only about a
month later when she tried to re-enter the country.
For each count of assisting another person to retain
benefits of criminal conduct, she could have been jailed for up to 10
years and fined up to $500,000.
Source: Strait Times Singapore
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