SINGAPORE – Li Huabo, a former local government official accused of a 94 million yuan ($15 million) fraud in China, was sentenced to 15 months in jail for receiving stolen money in his Singapore bank accounts.
Prosecutors proved their charges against Li, 51, beyond reasonable doubt, Singapore subordinate courts Judge Siva Shanmugam said in handing down his verdict today.
Li had testified he was coerced into making a confession to police that he masterminded a scheme to embezzle the funds. The former section director at Poyang county’s finance bureau in China's southeastern Jiangxi province had denied three charges of receiving S$182,700 ($147,600) in stolen money in his Singapore accounts, claiming he was framed by former co-workers.
Prosecutor Luke Tan had asked for a jail term of 14 to 18 months, arguing that Li's acts would damage Singapore’s standing as a financial hub, giving it an undesirable reputation for money laundering.
Li wasn’t charged with money laundering offences and no harm had been caused to Singapore, his lawyer Subhas Anandan said. He requested a short jail term for Li given the amount of money involved and the man’s age.
For each charge, Li could have been jailed for as long as five years and fined an unspecified amount. Li claimed his personal wealth including S$1.5 million used to obtain his Singapore permanent residency in 2011 and a S$1.3 million three-bedroom apartment in the city-state was built through businesses on the sidelines and not by siphoning public funds.