The Business Times

Singaporean slapped with two more charges related to Wirecard scandal

Vivienne Tay
Published Thu, Aug 20, 2020 · 04:25 AM

SINGAPOREAN R Shanmugaratnam has been charged two more times for falsifying letters that misrepresented balances held by his company's escrow accounts as at March 31, 2016.

These letters were addressed to Wirecard UK & Ireland Ltd and Cardsystems Middle East FZ, from Citadelle Corporate Services - one of the two companies being probed by Singapore authorities.

Shanmugaratnam was a director at Citadelle and was described by The Financial Times as having "controlled" the company.

The 54-year-old was previously slapped with four charges of falsifying letters which misrepresented balances held by Citadelle in an escrow account with amounts ranging between 30 million euros (S$48.8 million) and 178 million euros.

The fifth charge pertains to a falsified letter to Wirecard UK & Ireland, representing that there was a balance of 41.5 million euros held by Citadelle in an escrow account, when the account did not hold such a balance.

The sixth charge is for another falsified letter addressed to Cardsystems Middle East FZ, which misrepresented that there was a balance of 30.4 million euros held by Citadelle in another escrow account.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

VIEW ALL

Both offences are punishable under Section 477A of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 (Revised Edition 2008), the charge sheet noted.

Citadelle reportedly handled money for Wirecard in a trustee capacity, although it was not licensed to do so in Singapore; neither was it under the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The regulator has placed Citadelle on the Investor Alert List on its website.

KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE

BT is now on Telegram!

For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to  t.me/BizTimes

Banking & Finance

SUPPORT SOUTH-EAST ASIA'S LEADING FINANCIAL DAILY

Get the latest coverage and full access to all BT premium content.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Browse corporate subscription here