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2 foreigners jailed for role in S$1.5 million cross-border scam

SINGAPORE — They appeared to be two businessmen on a work trip from France who were representing the potential buyer of a ship.

Romanian Kiss Iosif (left) and French national David Weidmann arrive in court.

Romanian Kiss Iosif (left) and French national David Weidmann arrive in court.

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SINGAPORE — They appeared to be two businessmen on a work trip from France who were representing the potential buyer of a ship.

In reality, Kiss Iosif, a 40-year-old Romanian, and David Weidmann, a 37-year-old Frenchman, were runners in an intricate transnational scam that tried to cheat a company called the Oceanic Group of S$1.5 million on Sept 2 last year.

Both men were each sentenced to three years and eight months' jail on Monday (Aug 20) for assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct.

Oceanic Group serves as a middleman between buyers and sellers of marine vessels.

According to court documents, Iosif and Wiedmann worked for a man known as both "Boris" and "Eli". They were each promised S$5,000 to fly to Singapore on Aug 27 last year to collect S$1.5 million in cash from Oceanic Group's office at Fragrance Empire Building on Alexandra Road.

The company first entered into the deal sometime in February or March last year. Its managing director Daniel Chui Mun Yew had flown to Paris in March last year to meet the unnamed seller of the vessel to discuss terms and conditions of the transaction.

During the meeting, they agreed that the buyer's representatives would collect their commission only in cash when the deal was completed. Alternative payment methods such as a telegraphic transfer or cheque would not be accepted.

Mr Chui reluctantly agreed and was to pay the buyer's representatives a commission of S$3 million upon collecting a deposit of €7 million for the sale, which would be split into two tranches.

He would receive the first tranche of the deposit in Paris, while Iosif and Weidmann simultaneously collected the commission in Singapore. About 10 minutes after the transaction on Sept 2 last year, Mr Chui realised the money he had received was fake.

Oceanic Group's chief financial officer at the time, Ms Mok Lai Kin, lodged a police report that night when Iosif and Weidmann could not be contacted to return the commission.

On the same day, Iosif and Weidmann were caught at the Woodlands Checkpoint. Each had more than S$200,000 in his underwear.

After collecting the money earlier in the day, they had placed it in a suitcase and briefcase. They were directed by "Boris" to each take S$205,000 to Malaysia and hand over the remaining sum of more than S$1 million to someone in a men's toilet in City Square Mall.

Police investigations found that the recipient of the money was a Dutch national called Nikolic Predrag, 46, who has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail for his role in the scam.

Predrag was hired by a man in Paris known as "Stefan Radou", and had been told to collect the money and hand it to another person in Singapore for a €3,000 commission, with his airfare, food and lodging paid for.

Predrag roped in an accomplice, Frenchwoman Nikolic Dalida, 36, whose role was to hand over S$340,000 to a moneychanger. The moneychanger would show her a S$2 bill with a specific serial number to show he was the right person to hand the money to. This was the sum of money that could not be recovered by the police as it had already been remitted.

For their offences, Iosif and Weidmann could each have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to S$500,000.

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