Ex-company director charged with misappropriating $3.5 million

SINGAPORE - A former company director was on Tuesday (June 16) charged in court with misappropriating more than £2 million (S$3.5 million) from funds entrusted to him.

Vladlen Amtchentsev, who is 51 and holds both Russian and South African citizenship, was charged with criminal breach of trust, forgery, money laundering and breaching the Companies Act.

He is is accused of misappropriating the money between April 2015 and September 2016. He then converted and transferred it to 14 corporate bank accounts, most of which he controlled.

To cover his tracks, Amtchentsev allegedly forged three statements of account to deceive others into believing they were made by financial institutions.

He also failed to maintain registers of controllers and nominee directors for Velmur Management, the company where he was a director between November 2014 and June 2019.

Amtchentsev's case has been adjourned to June 30.

Those convicted of forgery and criminal breach of trust can be jailed for up to four and seven years respectively, or fined, or both.

Under the law, those convicted of money laundering can be jailed for up to 10 years, be fined up to $500,000, or both.

As a director of a company that breached the Companies Act, he can also be fined up to $5,000 if convicted.

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