Two Indian nationals sentenced in Singapore for illegal cross-border remittance operations

PTI, July 3, 2026, Singapore: A Singapore court on Friday sentenced two Indian nationals to different terms of imprisonment for illegally withdrawing funds from migrant workers' bank accounts and operating unauthorised cross-border remittance services to India, local media reported.

Cousins Angappan Arivalagan, 33, and Durairaj Kulothungan, 27, did not have licences that entitled them to carry out cross-border money transfer services and were convicted under the relevant laws, according to a report by The Straits Times.

Arivalagan was sentenced to 15 months and three weeks' imprisonment and fined SGD 6,000, while Kulothungan was handed a prison term of eight months and three weeks.

The illicit operation involved buying items with the cash Arivalagan collected from the workers and moving the goods overseas, where they were sold for a profit.

During the COVID-19 period, Arivalagan convinced several workers living in the same dormitory as him that he could withdraw money on their behalf and arrange for the funds to be sent to India, the newspaper reported.

Kulothungan started working for him in March 2023 by helping to make daily withdrawals using the workers' ATM cards.

In July 2023, a bystander spotted Kulothungan withdrawing large sums of cash from an ATM at Plaza Singapura and alerted the police.

Officers arrested him at the scene, seizing 51 ATM cards and nearly SGD 75,000 in cash.

Arivalagan was arrested the following month.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Daphne Lim and Teng Yin Hang said that from January to March 12, 2023, a total of SGD 4,099,305 was illegally remitted from 28 bank accounts, while SGD 6,166,515 was illegally remitted from 33 bank accounts between March 13 and July 2023.