SINGAPORE: A Singapore Armed Forces regular has been given a jail sentence after he agreed to help a woman incorporate a company, and had one opened under his name.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, the bank account of the firm, called Prodigym Trading, later received a total of US$274,945 (S$372,110) in scam proceeds from March 14 to 16, 2022.<\/p>\n
N. M. Pranesh, 25, who was the company\u2019s sole director and shareholder, was sentenced to 11 months\u2019 jail on Thursday (Sept 24).<\/p>\n
He was also banned from being a director of any company and taking part in the management of any firm for a period of five years from his release date.<\/p>\n
He had pleaded guilty to being involved in an arrangement linked to the benefits of criminal conduct.<\/p>\n
He also admitted he had failed to exercise any supervision over Prodigym\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n
The bank closed Prodigym\u2019s account in April 2022, and the company was struck off the following year.<\/p>\n
The Straits Times has contacted the Ministry of Defence over Pranesh\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
His legal woes started in January 2022, when a woman known only as \u201cJudy\u201d contacted him via Telegram and asked if he was interested in helping her incorporate a company in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Court documents stated that \u201cJudy\u201d, who had a Malaysian phone number, then promised to pay him $10,000 over a two-month period as part of an \u201cinvestment plan\u201d.<\/p>\n
It purportedly involved him helping her to set up the firm to sell watches from China.<\/p>\n
Pranesh agreed to help \u201cJudy\u201d, who contacted him a few days later to ask for the log-in details of his Singpass account.<\/p>\n
Taking instructions from her, he shared information including his Singpass credentials with an unknown man via Telegram.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudy\u201d told Pranesh to talk to a woman called Tricia Lam, a representative of an unnamed corporate service provider.<\/p>\n
Lam told him she would be incorporating Prodigym on his behalf.<\/p>\n
The pair had a video call on Feb 24, 2022, during which she asked him to hold up his identity card, and took a screenshot of him doing so.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, Pranesh said \u201cJudy\u201d and other parties had earlier sent him instructions on what to say.<\/p>\n
He then duped Lam into believing the company was for his own use.<\/p>\n
He also did not inform her about \u201cJudy\u201d being involved in Prodigym.<\/p>\n
Later that day, he transferred $650 from his personal bank account to Lam\u2019s company as payment for its incorporation fees.<\/p>\n
On Feb 25, 2022, he was told that Prodigym was successfully incorporated.<\/p>\n
Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Wong said Pranesh was aware that \u201cJudy\u201d and her associates were engaged in something illegal.<\/p>\n
Between March 14 and 16 that year, US$274,945 in scam proceeds were transferred into Prodigym\u2019s bank account.<\/p>\n
The money had come from a love scam victim based in Germany, and her company.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, Pranesh said he tried to contact \u201cJudy\u201d after discovering that significant sums of money were withdrawn shortly after they were deposited.<\/p>\n
However, he could not locate her on Telegram after March 16, 2022.<\/p>\n
The love scam victim alerted the police on July 4 that year, and Pranesh was arrested on July 16, 2025.<\/p>\n
In mitigation, defence lawyer Jeyabal Athavan told the court his client was not the mastermind behind the offences and had not received any remuneration.<\/p>\n
The lawyer added that Pranesh was not aware of the full extent of the offences.<\/p>\n
Pranesh\u2019s bail was set at $20,000, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Oct 1. – The Straits Times\/ANN<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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