SINGAPORE – A 37-year-old man was convicted last Thursday (Oct 17) for failing to declare the movement of $1.18 million in cash in and out of Singapore over the course of one year.

Alvin Lee Khai Wui was fined $30,000, said the police on Monday.

The police said that on Feb 22, 2018, they were alerted that Lee had attempted to smuggle $300,000 into Singapore at Tuas Checkpoint.

Lee was stopped for a routine check when driving into Singapore in a Malaysia-registered car.

When asked by the immigration officer on duty if he had anything to declare, Lee said that he did not have anything to declare.

The immigration officer carried out an inspection and found a laptop bag on the back passenger seat of the car. Lee was asked to open the laptop bag, which contained a purple pouch with $300,000 – in 300 pieces of $1,000 banknotes – which was seized.

Lee had intended to use the money to gamble at the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino in Singapore and failed to report to an immigration officer regarding the movement of cash more than $20,000.

Police said that investigations also showed Lee had committed 21 similar offences between June 2017 and February 2018.

Lee, who is a Malaysian national, is the executive director of ML Sepakat, a Malaysian construction company dealing with infrastructure work.

He claimed that the undeclared money he brought into Singapore was his savings and money from the sale of properties in Malaysia.

The money he took out of Singapore included his withdrawals and winnings from RWS and Marina Bay Sands casinos.

Those who are convicted for not declaring the physical movement of cash exceeding $20,000, or the equivalent in foreign currency, into and out of Singapore can be fined up to $50,000, jailed up to three years, or both.

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