SINGAPORE: Investigations have revealed that the total amount involved in the offences for three men accused of fraud over the movement of Nvidia chips is in the region of US$390 million (S$519 million).
The prosecution on Thursday (Mar 13) revealed the sum related to the cases of Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, Alan Wei Zhaolun, 48, and Chinese national Li Ming, 51.
Woon and Wei are accused of being in a criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on two suppliers of servers, Dell and Super Micro, involving about US$250 million.
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 said to have committed fraud on Super Micro and accessed a corporate bank account without authorisation to make and receive transfers for company Luxuriate Your Life. The amount in his alleged offences is around US$140 million, said the prosecution during a further mention of the cases.
The three 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.
The three men have been in remand since their charging and appeared in court via videolink.
BAIL AMOUNTS
On Thursday, the prosecution cited the high amounts involved as the basis for offering bail of S$600,000 for Woon, S$800,000 for Wei and S$1 million for Li.
The prosecution also sought an eight-week adjournment for investigations to be concluded and asked for conditions to be imposed alongside bail, including electronic tagging for Li with exclusion zones in place.
With the exclusion, Li will not be able to visit immigration points such as Changi Airport, as well as the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints.
Li’s lawyer Wendall Wong did not object to the bail amount or conditions, while Woon and Wei’s lawyers protested the high amounts.
Woon’s lawyer Sanjiv Kumar Rajan said bail should be fixed at S$400,000, adding that his client had not previously offended and that his roots were in Singapore.
Wei’s lawyer Shashi Nathan said he had not heard the basis for the high bail amount. In contrast to Li, who was a Chinese national, Mr Shashi said his client was a Singaporean with family here.
“I invite Your Honour to consider whether S$800,000 is fair in all the circumstances.
“The case has some sensitivity and publicity but other than the fact that it has those two ingredients, (that) shouldn’t be a reason for bail to be at such a high amount,” Mr Shashi said.
He added that his client has been cooperative and has had his passport impounded.
Responding to the arguments, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kang Jia Hui said both Singaporeans faced serious charges and investigations were still preliminary.
“Even at this early stage, based on current investigations, the total amount involved for both is believed to be in the region of US$250 million. This is by no means a small amount,” said Ms Kang.
The amount uncovered in Li’s case is lower than the sum involving the two Singaporeans, but the prosecution has taken into account his nationality and other factors, Ms Kang said.
She added that Wei was believed to have paid an eight-digit dividend to himself from the company, while Woon received a seven-digit bonus.
Given the amounts, the bail amount was “proportionate” and “clearly justified”, she said.
The judge ordered for bail to be offered at the amounts sought by the prosecution but said the defence lawyers could challenge this at a bail review hearing.
The three cases have been fixed for next mention on May 2.
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