Man in jail for money laundering charged with cheating fellow inmate of almost S$38,000

SINGAPORE — A Nigerian and Singapore permanent resident already serving prison time here for money laundering was on Wednesday (July 31) charged in court with another cheating offence. 

Court documents showed that sometime between January and May last year, Paul Gabriel Amos, 48, allegedly cheated one Milled El Khouri at Changi Prison Complex into giving him A$40,000 (S$37,800) so he could make bail.

Amos is accused of tricking Milled into delivering the cash to one Chung Ting Fai through Enkhadalai Mandakh. It is not known who Chung or Enkhadalai are.

Amos was in remand at that time, pending the conclusion of his original case.

According to a Straits Times report in October last year, Milled is an Australian businessman who had been detained in Changi Prison since January last year. The 45-year-old was ordered to be extradited back to Australia to face criminal charges, including receiving stolen car parts.

Amos, who appeared in the State Courts via video-link on Wednesday, will return to court on Aug 28.

In May, he was sentenced to three years’ jail for helping to launder US$1.84 million (S$2.52 million) that his friend had cheated from the Ethiopian government.

The laundered criminal proceeds crossed multiple countries and territories, including Australia and Hong Kong.

Amos was also fined S$4,200 and banned from driving for a year, after almost causing a collision while driving his blue Lamborghini on the East Coast Parkway (ECP) expressway in 2016.

He was previously prosecuted in a New York district court in 2009 for committing bank and wire fraud. He was accused of duping Citibank of S$27 million in September 2008, but was ultimately not convicted.

If convicted of cheating, he could face further jail time of up to 10 years and be fined.