Still Uploading Taipei!

this is interesting. he's bound to be put away for a long time if he is ever caught.

the sg courts have clamping down on fraud and white collar crimes aggressively. wonder how else does he intend to launder the remaining 9 million sing.


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Rasif got defendant to help move $985k to Vietnam

Friend says Rasif spun tax evasion story to get him to open bank account

By Selina Lum
Jun 27, 2007
The Straits Times

PUB owner Freddy Lim Soon Kiang says he was only trying to help a long-time friend avoid taxes when he opened a bank account in Ho Chi Minh City last year.
But he is now a defendant in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit after his friend, lawyer David Rasif, absconded with millions of dollars in client funds.

According to Mr Lim, Rasif spun a story that he was about to receive a sum of money from London but wanted to evade the tax that he would have to pay if the funds were deposited in a Singapore bank.


Mr Lim, who was in Ho Chi Minh City to meet his Vietnamese girlfriend, did as Rasif instructed. As a result, Rasif, now a wanted man, was able to move US$620,000 - the equivalent of S$985,180 at the time - from the clients' account of his law firm to Vietnam.

Rasif disappeared in Bangkok on June 5 last year, shortly before $12 million was found missing from the account.

Mr Lim is one of six parties who received a total of $9 million from Rasif. They are being sued by an American couple fighting to recover the money they had entrusted to Rasif's firm for a property deal. The only parties contesting the suit are Mr Lim and the jewellers who sold jewellery and gemstones to Rasif worth about $2 million.

Yesterday, while cross-examining the first plaintiff, Mr George Raymond Zage III, Mr Lim who is representing himself, pleaded with the judge to 'drop me off the case so that I can go home'.

But Justice Woo Bih Li told him gently that it was something he had to face.

'Someone has done something wrong. Mr and Mrs Zage have lost money. Mr Kumar's client (the jewellers) is at risk of losing money. You are too.'

Mr Lim replied: 'Mr Zage knows I have no assets and no money.' But the judge said that it was up to Mr Zage to drop Mr Lim's name from the suit.

His troubles began on May 28 last year when Rasif, who knew that he was in Vietnam, asked Mr Lim to open an account to receive funds from London for work he had done there.

Rasif told him that if he helped, he would lend him $100,000, without interest, to pay off an existing loan. Mr Lim agreed. After opening the account, he flew back to Singapore to give the details to Rasif.

Rasif then told Mr Lim that US$400,000 would be transferred into the account and that he was to withdraw the money and transport it to Bangkok.

Mr Lim flew back to Ho Chi Minh City on June 1 and found US$620,000 had been deposited. He withdrew US$600,000 over two days - because the bank did not have enough cash - but his girlfriend persuaded him not to carry out the plan to hand Rasif the money in Bangkok.

Mr Lim and Rasif then agreed Mr Lim would pay four Vietnamese to smuggle the money to Bangkok.

Mr Lim apparently paid out some US$30,000 but the plan was eventually aborted. Rasif then sent an SMS to Mr Lim on June 3, saying he would arrange for someone to collect US$500,000 from him. Rasif told him to stay in a 'nice good hotel and enjoy the weekend'.

Mr Lim checked into the Sofitel Plaza hotel with his girlfriend. He received instructions from Rasif to hand the money to 'Nick Leong', no questions asked. Shortly after, a person by that name showed up at Mr Lim's room, with an SMS message on his cellphone with Mr Lim's full name as identification.

Rasif also told Mr Lim to transfer the remaining sum to him in Singapore. But instead, he closed the account and handed US$88,650 to his girlfriend before returning to Singapore. She has since returned US$58,998.

selinal@sph.com.sg