SINGAPORE – A director of a wholesale trading company was charged on May 16 after three of its bank accounts were allegedly used to launder nearly US$443,800 (S$596,000) from five fraud victims overseas.

Singaporean Jessy Kyra Malhotra, 41, was charged with three counts of money laundering.

She was also charged with one count each of engaging in a conspiracy to cheat a bank and knowingly being part of a firm called Future Traders, which was allegedly set up for a fraudulent purpose.

On May 15, police said that between December 2019 and February 2020, Malhotra allegedly made an arrangement with a 38-year-old man to set up a firm and open four corporate bank accounts here in exchange for monetary benefits.

“This was despite her having reasonable grounds to believe that the man was a person who engaged in criminal conduct, and that such an arrangement facilitated the control of the man’s benefits from criminal conduct,” said a police spokesperson, without disclosing the man’s identity.

Court documents said that Malhotra committed most of the offences with one Patel Sachinkumar Amrutlal, whose details were not disclosed.

From January to March 2020, she allegedly allowed Patel to access Future Traders’ accounts in three banks to receive the proceeds of criminal conduct.

Malhotra is also accused of engaging in a conspiracy with Patel to cheat a fourth bank on or before Jan 9, 2020.

She allegedly deceived the bank by stating that no other parties besides Future Traders would acquire rights to the bank account without prior written consent. It is not stated if she had given Patel access to the account.

The case has been adjourned to June 13.

If convicted of being part of a conspiracy to cheat a bank, Malhotra can be jailed for up to three years and fined.

For each count of dealing with the benefits of criminal activities, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $500,000.