SINGAPORE: There may be more charges in the cases of alleged fraud potentially linked to the movement of Nvidia chips, a district court heard on Friday (May 2).
The three men accused have been released on bail, but face further probes after a prosecutor asked the judge for more time for the police to complete investigations.
Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 40, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, and Chinese national Li Ming, 51, were originally charged on Feb 27. The total amount involved in their cases is around US$390 million (S$519 million).
On Friday, Li's case was heard first, separately from Woon and Wei's cases.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan asked for Li's case to be adjourned for 12 weeks. When District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam asked why, she said that he might face additional charges.
Ms Tan repeated the request for a 12-week adjournment when Woon and Wei's cases were heard together later.
Judge Ng ultimately adjourned the cases for eight weeks instead, citing the need for "a little form of control on the amount of time the prosecution needs".
He also asked the prosecution to provide a detailed update on the status of the investigations at the next hearing on Jun 27.
Woon and Wei are out on bail of S$600,000 and S$800,000 respectively, while Li is out on bail of S$1 million. Lawyers for Woon and Wei had previously challenged their bail amounts at a previous hearing.
Woon and Wei each face two charges of being in a criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on two suppliers of servers, Dell and Super Micro. The amount involved is about US$250 million, the prosecution previously said.
The pair are said to have made false representations in 2024 that the items would not be transferred to a person other than the "authorised ultimate consignee of end users".
Li is accused of committing fraud on Super Micro by allegedly claiming in 2023 that the end user of the items would be a company called Luxuriate Your Life.
He is also suspected of accessing an OCBC corporate bank account without authorisation to make and receive transfers for Luxuriate Your Life, a company he controlled, on Jun 19, 2024.
The amount in his alleged offences is around US$140 million, the prosecution previously said.
Woon, Wei and Li were among nine people arrested during raids by the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Customs in February, after media reports stated that intermediaries in the country were involved in the illegal movement of Nvidia chips to China, bypassing US export controls.
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The three men accused have been released on bail, but face further probes after a prosecutor asked the judge for more time for the police to complete investigations.
Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 40, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, and Chinese national Li Ming, 51, were originally charged on Feb 27. The total amount involved in their cases is around US$390 million (S$519 million).
On Friday, Li's case was heard first, separately from Woon and Wei's cases.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan asked for Li's case to be adjourned for 12 weeks. When District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam asked why, she said that he might face additional charges.
Ms Tan repeated the request for a 12-week adjournment when Woon and Wei's cases were heard together later.
Judge Ng ultimately adjourned the cases for eight weeks instead, citing the need for "a little form of control on the amount of time the prosecution needs".
He also asked the prosecution to provide a detailed update on the status of the investigations at the next hearing on Jun 27.
Woon and Wei are out on bail of S$600,000 and S$800,000 respectively, while Li is out on bail of S$1 million. Lawyers for Woon and Wei had previously challenged their bail amounts at a previous hearing.
Woon and Wei each face two charges of being in a criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on two suppliers of servers, Dell and Super Micro. The amount involved is about US$250 million, the prosecution previously said.
The pair are said to have made false representations in 2024 that the items would not be transferred to a person other than the "authorised ultimate consignee of end users".
Li is accused of committing fraud on Super Micro by allegedly claiming in 2023 that the end user of the items would be a company called Luxuriate Your Life.
He is also suspected of accessing an OCBC corporate bank account without authorisation to make and receive transfers for Luxuriate Your Life, a company he controlled, on Jun 19, 2024.
The amount in his alleged offences is around US$140 million, the prosecution previously said.
Woon, Wei and Li were among nine people arrested during raids by the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Customs in February, after media reports stated that intermediaries in the country were involved in the illegal movement of Nvidia chips to China, bypassing US export controls.
Continue reading...