Singapore jails five Gurkha officers involved in unlicensed cross-border money transfers, with one handling nearly S$2.9m

SINGAPORE — Five Nepalese men who were officers of the Gurkha police contingent here were sentenced to jail yesterday for offering unlicensed payment services that involved the remittance of multi-million dollars to overseas recipients.

The court heard that the offences were uncovered after the Commercial Affairs Division under the Singapore Police Force received information in February last year that officers within the Gurkha Contingent camp were providing money remittance services.

A raid was later conducted at the camp on March 22 last year.

Among the five sentenced yesterday, Sitaram Tamang, 40, was handed the longest jail term of five months, after pleading guilty to abetting the provisions of an unlicensed payment service. Three related charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

He handled about S$2.87 million (RM9.57 million) in aiding the illegal service — the highest amount of the five men.

The others were:

1. Dik Bahadur Gurung, 32, who was sentenced to 14 weeks’ imprisonment for providing an unlicensed payment service and abetting the provision of such a service. About S$1.59 million was transacted in his case. He earned an estimated sum of between S$1,750 and S$2,450
2. Ganga Prasad Rai, 43, who was given a 10-week jail sentence for providing an unlicensed payment service and abetting the provision of such a service
3. He transacted S$1.06 million, inclusive of two charges taken into consideration
4. Mingmar Sherpa, 44, was sentenced to seven weeks' jail for abetting the provision of an unlicensed payment service
5. Ashok Kumar Thapa, 39, was sentenced to four weeks' jail for providing an unlicensed payment service

All five men, who did not have any legal representation, appeared in court on Thursday through a video link and spoke through a Nepalese interpreter.

TODAY has asked the Singapore Police Force on the employment status of the five men and whether there will be further action taken against any of them.

Recruited by retired Gurkha officer

The court heard that an officer Pratik Tamang, who joined the Gurkha Contingent in 2004 and retired in February 2022, allegedly started offering money remittance services to Gurkha officers at the camp around June 2021.

He was said to have recruited Sitaram, Ganga and Dik at various points in time to assist him in the operations.

Pratik has since returned to Nepal after his retirement and is now at large, the prosecution said.

Sitaram assisted Pratik between February 25 and July 29 in 2022.

Gurkha officers would liaise with Pratik and inform him of the amount they wanted to remit to Nepal. He would allegedly transfer the equivalent amount in Nepalese rupees to their beneficiaries there.

The officers would thereby transfer the amount in Singapore dollars owed to Pratik into Sitaram’s bank account. Sitaram would then hand over the money to Pratik either through a bank transfer or in cash to Pratik’s friends.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Brian Tan said: “A total of S$1,590,020 comprising 111 deposits flowed through Sitaram’s bank account during this period.”

For some time until July 2022, Pratik purportedly asked Ganga and Dik to work with him through Sitaram, so the two men would give Sitaram the money they had collected for the remittance operations.

Inclusive of these transactions, almost S$2.87 million was remitted, with Sitaram not making any profit off the illegal service, the prosecution said.

On his part, Ganga worked with Sitaram and Pratik between February 25 and July 29 in 2022. He collected more than S$243,100 during this period, which he handed to Sitaram for remittance.

Ganga later stopped working with Sitaram and Pratik. He started providing his own illegal remittance services between August 26, 2022 and March 12, 2023, transferring more than S$383,600.

Dik also worked with Sitaram and Pratik during the same period that Ganga did. Dik collected almost S$549,600, which he handed to Sitaram.

“Dik earned an estimated profit of S$1,750 to S$2,450 off the money remittance, which was paid to him by Pratik,” DPP Tan said.

Like Ganga, he broke off the partnership with Sitaram and Pratik, and provided his own cross-border money transfer service, moving almost S$492,400.

Family members wanted help

As for Ashok, he was contacted by his cousin’s uncle, identified in court documents as just "Mahendra", sometime in February 2022 to help transfer money.

Mahendra had sold his land in Nepal and was looking to transfer the proceeds to England, where he was based.

Similarly, at around the same time, Ashok’s brother Gokul Thapa wanted to transfer money from Nepal to Ashok's nephew based in Perth, Australia.

The brother roped in Ashok to help, seeing that the currency exchange rate between Singapore dollars and Australian dollars was more favourable.

They arrived at this arrangement:

• Gurkha officers in Singapore who wanted to remit money back home in Nepal would transfer the money in Singapore dollars to Ashok
• Ashok's uncle and brother would disburse the equivalent amount in Nepalese rupees to those officers' intended beneficiaries in Nepal
• Ashok would transfer what the officers gave him in Singapore dollars to his nephew in Perth, Australia and his cousin's uncle in England
• Ashok offered this money remittance service to Gurkha officers within the camp between February 20 and July 20 in 2022.

He received more than S$103,400 in total through 26 transactions and claimed that he did not receive any profit, DPP Tan added.

Wife fronted service, marked up rates

The court heard that in the case of Mingmar, his wife began offering a money remittance service to Gurkha officers and their wives from September 2022.

Mingmar handed his bank account and its associated PayNow number to his wife Pema Sherpa for this purpose. The officers using this service dealt exclusively with his wife, but they transferred the money to Mingmar’s account.

Between September 2022 and March 2023, Mingmar received a total of almost S$472,000 into his bank account through 183 transactions.

His wife charged a mark-up of two Nepalese rupees higher than the market rate for the money remittance.

“(Mingmar) knew that Pema’s actions were wrong and had advised his wife not to continue her conduct. However, Pema continued to persist,” DPP Tan said.

Mingmar's wife, a Nepalese, emigrated to Canada in December 2022 and is still based there.

The offence of carrying out a business of providing a payment service in Singapore without license — or the abetting of such a business — attracts a fine of up to S$125,000 or a prison term not longer than three years, or both. — TODAY