Hussain Naina Mohamed, a 47-year-old Indian national, has been sentenced to 30 months in jail for his involvement in making illegal payments amounting to over SGD 5.1 million (approximately Rs 31 crore) from the construction company where he was employed. Mohamed pleaded guilty to nine counts of cheating, involving more than SGD 2.5 million, and one count of transferring a portion of his illicitly obtained funds out of Singapore.
According to The Straits Times, sixteen additional charges, including those related to the remaining amount, were taken into consideration during the sentencing process. Mohamed confessed to sending the money to India to assist in covering his parents’ household expenses.
Mohamed admitted to establishing a firm, Aret, solely to earn money from Utracon Corp, while his sister served as the face of the company. He concealed his involvement in Al Rahman Enterprises & Trading (Aret), of which he was a partner, to avoid detection by Utracon. Mohamed was the sole decision-maker for Aret, while his sister represented the firm, as per the prosecution.
The illegal payments occurred between 2009 and 2019 and caused losses of at least SGD 500,000 to Utracon, a construction firm where Mohamed worked until January 2019. In his role as an assistant shipping manager, he was responsible for recommending vendors to his superiors and also assisted Utracon Overseas in similar tasks. However, Mohamed failed to disclose his partnership with Aret to his employer and instead suggested Aret as a vendor for marine insurance and freight-forwarding services.
Additionally, Mohamed recommended his father’s firm, SM Enterprises (SME), to supply plastic components to Utracon. The prosecution argued that Utracon would not have awarded contracts to these companies had they been aware of the blatant conflict of interest with Mohamed.
As a result of the services provided by Mohamed’s affiliated companies to Utracon, the construction firm incurred a financial loss of at least SGD 500,000. This loss included the illegal profit Mohamed gained from his offenses. Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jingxi stated that Mohamed and his sister were partners in Aret, which was registered in June 2009 and offered marine insurance and freight-forwarding services.
Due to Mohamed’s deceptive actions, Utracon was induced to award contracts to Aret and paid the company over SGD 705,000. In May 2011, Mohamed approached Utracon’s director of Singapore operations and proposed sourcing an alternative supplier for plastic components, claiming better rates. He coordinated with an Indian company called Vijay Industries to manufacture the required plastic parts, arranging for his father’s firm, SME, to export them to Utracon. Mohamed concealed the fact that SME belonged to his father and that Vijay Industries was the actual manufacturer, with SME marking up the prices.
As a result of Mohamed’s concealment, Utracon was induced to award contracts to SME and paid the company over SGD 1.4 million. Mohamed also collaborated with a director from Indus Global Line (IGL) to deceive Utracon. In 2011, they reached an illicit agreement for IGL to submit inflated quotations for freight-forwarding services, with Mohamed determining the extent of each mark-up. He then approved all the inflated quotations before submitting them to Utracon for approval. Consequently, Utracon paid IGL nearly SGD 375,000.
Between May 2014 and November 2017, Mohamed transferred SGD 142,000 of his illegally obtained funds out of Singapore through various methods, including utilizing local remittance agents.
