IN 2005, Rahmad Ibrahim needed a job. He found one online, which required him only to act on e-mail instructions from his employer - collect funds sent from Australia, Britain, Spain and Germany at remittance agencies, and then forward these to Latvia via international wire transfers. Rahmad stood to earn a commission of 3 per cent with each transaction. The past two days, however, the 41-year-old has found himself in court, accused of having been a money mule for overseas crime syndicates, the first Singaporean in this situation. Now a property agent, Rahmad has had to answer questions about his failure to disclose to the authorities that the £1,594 (S$4,900) he wired to Latvia on Dec 22, 2005 were proceeds from criminal activity. His defence: he was unaware of the criminal activities allegedly run by Financial Investment Advisory Services (FIAS), his employer. On its website, FIAS claims to be a department jointly operated by the International Financial Corporation and the World Bank, but investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department here and the Australian police have revealed the website www.fias.sg to be run by an unknown criminal syndicate.
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