SINGAPORE: In Parliament on Monday (May 8), Workers’ Party MP Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) acknowledged that people’s lives had been devastated by online crimes such as scams, but she also asked for fairness for some suspects who may be victims themselves, for example, those who may be mentally impaired.
The Workers’ Party chair raised a few clarifications and concerns during the debate on the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) (Amendment) Bill and Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill even as she voiced support for the Bills.
“These Bills tighten the net around those who facilitate money-laundering including letting their bank accounts and Singpass accounts be used for fund transfers. Reducing the opportunities for syndicates to re-direct the fruits of crime is a step in the right direction. As to how effective these provisions will be to disrupt the operations of criminal syndicates, only time will tell,” said Ms Lim.
The MP is a lawyer and was formerly a police inspector serving the Singapore Police Force in the 1990s. She also has a master’s degree in criminal justice and was a law lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic for over a decade.
In her May 8 speech, she said that MPs have met residents who not only lost a lot of money in scams but also faced mental anguish and guilt.
She acknowledged that such scams have become a major crime issue in Singapore.
However, she sought clarification on a few issues.
Referring to the difficulties in prosecuting money mules, she said while over 19,000 money mules had been investigated by the police, fewer than 250 cases were prosecuted.
“Could MHA clarify whether the balance 98.7 per cent of cases were all not prosecuted due to the difficulties in proving intention, or includes non-prosecutions due on other grounds?” asked Ms Lim.
She also raised a question about that part of the Bill, which criminalises certain acts that facilitate money laundering “regardless of a person’s mental state”.
“My concern here is about persons who may be manipulated into letting others use their bank accounts to transfer money. I encountered one resident recently who told me that her bank account had been frozen by police as it had apparently been used to receive or make some suspicious fund transfers. I tried asking her how her account got compromised, but she was unable to answer coherently. She appeared, to me at least, to be a person who was easily confused and cognitively impaired and may have been made use of.
“Under the law, a suspected money mule is expected to make some sort of reasoned assessment about the nature of the transaction. How will the authorities approach a case where the suspect appears to be mentally impaired?
“While we certainly want to curtail scams and money-laundering, we also need to be fair to suspects who may also be victims themselves,” added Ms Lim.
Ms Lim’s speech may be viewed in full here. /TISG