SINGAPORE, Nov 12 — A Malaysian man and a Vietnamese man were jailed for providing unlawful cross-border money transfer services linked to more than S$58 million (RM183.8 million).
According to the Straits Times, Malaysian national Patrick Lee Paik Cheng, 66, and Vietnamese national Dinh Tien Dat, 28, admitted to operating a payment business in Singapore without a licence.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Teo told the court that Lee, a Singapore permanent resident, incorporated a company called Tupt in March 2019 and acted as its sole director while running it with Dat.
“(Dat) admitted that it was his idea to run (the business in such a way) after hearing from a Vietnamese businessman that payments from Vietnam to Singapore were often delayed and this caused businesses to incur extra costs, such as penalties for late payment or port charges for vessels docked in Singapore,” said Teo.
“These delays could be averted or mitigated if the Vietnamese clients used a Singaporean payment intermediary like Tupt,” she added.
Court documents showed Tupt’s bank accounts received nearly US$45 million (RM184 million) in 58 transactions between July 2020 and April 2022.
Dat sourced Vietnamese clients who needed to remit money abroad, typically for vessel purchases in Singapore.
Clients signed contracts with Tupt, which then transferred the funds to intended recipients.
Dat and Lee remitted more than S$57 million to others in Singapore and kept nearly S$415,000 in commission, with Dat taking 60 per cent and Lee 40 per cent.
Today, the court sentenced each man to 30 weeks’ jail and fined them S$125,000.
Both men face an additional 15 weeks in jail if they fail to pay the fine.
Investigations did not reveal if any of the funds came from criminal proceeds.
Lee and Dat were arrested in June 2025.
The penalties for carrying out payment services without a licence include jail and fines under Singapore law.