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SINGAPORE: The chief executive officer of tech firm Aperia Group was charged on Monday (Jul 6) with laundering S$38 million (US$29 million) in the purchase of a bungalow and acquiring S$3.2 million in criminal proceeds.<\/p>\n
Alan Wei Zhaolun, a 50-year-old Singaporean, indicated that he was not guilty of all charges, with his lawyers saying they were “misconceived”.<\/p>\n
The new charges take the total number he is facing to 11, most of which are for conspiring to commit fraud linked to the purchase of computer servers.<\/p>\n
These servers allegedly contained Nvidia chips that were moved in contravention of United States’ export controls. The case came to court after US investigations on whether Chinese start-up DeepSeek had circumvented US restrictions on advanced Nvidia chips by buying them from third parties in other countries including Singapore.<\/p>\n
The alleged co-conspirators of the fraud are Aperia Group’s chief financial officer Jenny Lim, a 51-year-old Singaporean, and the group’s head of sales Aaron Woon Guo Jie, a 41-year-old Singaporean.<\/p>\n
The trio are accused of conspiring to commit fraud in an end-use\/end-user certification form sent to representatives of tech firms, including the Singapore branch of Dell Global B V, Super Micro Computer Inc. Taiwan and Asus Global that the end-users of servers purchased from them were companies within Aperia Group.<\/p>\n
The three companies from Aperia Group – A-Speed Infotech, Aperia International and Aperia Cloud Services (II) – have also charged with related fraud offences.<\/p>\n
According to his new charges tendered on Monday, Wei bought a bungalow at 12 Chee Hoon Avenue between July and October 2024 for a sum of S$55 million. Of this, about S$38 million was the alleged benefits of criminal conduct.<\/p>\n
The police said last week that they had issued a prohibition of disposal order against the Good Class Bungalow, which means it cannot be sold or transferred while the order is in force.<\/p>\n
According to the fresh charges, Wei acquired money in his bank accounts over two periods – between Jul 25, 2024 and Aug 7, 2024, and on Oct 3, 2024 – totalling S$5.8 million.<\/p>\n
Of this sum, about S$3.2 million allegedly came from his benefits from criminal conduct.<\/p>\n
Wei is represented by lawyers from WongPartnership, including Ms Melanie Ho, Mr Tang Shangwei, Ms Rachel Ong and Ms Neo Yi Ling.<\/p>\n
Ms Ho told the court on Monday that her client denies any wrongdoing and that the charges are “misconceived”.<\/p>\n
Two of the charges Wei initially faced have been amended to reflect that the alleged conspiracy involved not just Wei and Woon but also Lim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Ho said that Wei and the three Aperia companies have been cooperative, with the firms “running to the best of their ability despite these turbulent times”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The prosecution sought an increase in bail from S$800,000 to S$1.25 million, but the defence argued against this, saying the imposition of the fresh charges was no surprise, since the prosecution had earlier indicated they would be levying those charges.<\/p>\n
The judge granted the prosecution’s call for an increase in bail and fixed it at S$1.25 million.<\/p>\n
The cases for the three Aperia Group executives and the three companies have been adjourned for pre-trial conferences.<\/p>\n
If convicted of converting benefits from criminal conduct, an offender could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$500,000, or both.<\/p>\n
For engaging in a conspiracy to commit fraud through false representation, a person can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined.<\/p>\n
The companies face potential fines if convicted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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