A former remisier at Maybank Kim Eng Securities has been extradited to Singapore and charged with more than 50 offences involving S$13 million (US$9.7 million).
Sumiko-Jill Teo Hui-Ni, a 37-year-old Singaporean, had left for Spain in January 2022 before a police report was made against her alleging criminal breach of trust.
An Interpol Red Notice was issued.
She was later nabbed with the help of the Spain National Police and the United States Homeland Security Investigations and extradited on Jul 27.
Teo was handed multiple charges on Saturday (Jul 29) including criminal breach of trust as an agent, fraud by false representation and forgery.
She is accused of dishonestly misappropriating more than S$13 million that was entrusted to her by 15 people between January 2020 and December 2021.
She allegedly gave the victims forged trading records or manually entered trade transactions to give the impression that their money was properly used for trades in their accounts
Teo, who returned to court on Aug 4, was represented by Mr Sunil Sudheesan and Ms Diana Ngiam from Quahe Woo & Palmer.
She told the court that she did not want to answer the question of whether she consented to extradition or whether she sought asylum.
Her lawyers asserted that she was merely overseas for a holiday and did not know that investigations had commenced against her.
According to the prosecution, she had resisted extradition to Singapore and sought asylum in Spain.
The judge denied her bail after arguments from both sides.
If convicted, Teo faces jail terms ranging up to 20 years and fines.
In a statement issued by the Singapore Police Force, director of the Commercial Affairs Department David Chew thanked US and Spanish authorities for their “invaluable assistance in this extradition”.
“We will continue to collaborate closely with Interpol and our wide network of overseas law enforcement partners to locate, arrest and extradite criminals to face justice in Singapore,” said Mr Chew.
CNA
