Mauritian management company [TSCP] is subject to electronic fraud, and ICAC catch the perpetrator and charge them with money laundering

1. Guillaume Bornot, a French national residing in Rivière-Noire, was arrested this Friday morning in a case of electronic banking fraud.
2. The suspect appeared in Bambous district court on Friday under a provisional charge of money laundering under section 3 of FIAMLA.
3. He will have to provide a deposit of Rs 75,000 and sign an IOU of one million rupees. Moreover, he will not be able to leave the country.

BACKGROUND

1. The investigation concerned suspicious transactions, through the SBM, between several offshore companies for an amount of $ 3.6 million.
2. During the investigation, the Management Company of the offshore companies concerned, Sphere Management Ltd, explained that they had made these transfers according to their client's instruction, Mr Vijay Pandya.

THE INVESTIGATION

1. The ICAC started an investigation in February 2019 into suspicious transactions between several offshore companies for $ 3.6 million.
2. During the investigation, the Management Company of these offshore companies, Sphere Management Ltd,

• Explained that it had made these transfers according to the instructions of its client, Vijay Pandya.
• However, the latter said that he did not know the companies to which the money had been paid and had not given such instructions.

3. The ICAC's in-depth investigation, with the help of an expert from Malaysia, showed
4. That the suspect initially created a 'spoof email' resembling that of the Management Company.

• So instead of [prénom]@ sphere-management.com, the suspect sent an email from [prénom]@ sphere-manage * rn * ent.com to Vijay Pandya.
• This email contained a pdf containing malware.

THE PDF

1. When Vijay Pandya opened the pdf document, the suspect then allegedly downloaded all of his personal data.
2. Repeating this same ploy, the suspect then impersonated Vijay Pandya, creating an email [email protected] * i * axconsey.com instead of the original [email protected]
3. Having had access to all the banking information of the companies of the latter through the malware, the suspect allegedly instructed Sphere Management Ltd to transfer the money from the accounts of the companies managed by Vijay Pandya to other companies in Malaysia.
4. He would carry out this manoeuvre nine times for a total amount of $ 3.6 million or approximately Rs 140 million, accounts managed by the SBM.

ICAC

1. The ICAC requested and received the assistance of the Malaysian police to establish a money trail of the transferred funds and the Malaysian police made several arrests in Malaysia.
2. Thanks to the 'money trail', the ICAC discovered that part of the money was transferred to Hong Kong and approximately $ 500,000 returned to Mauritius on account of two Global Business Companies.
3. The Asset Recovery Investigation Division requested and obtained a restraining order on this amount. Hong Kong police have also been alerted, and the investigation is continuing under their jurisdiction.
4. As this is an electronic fraud, the case was referred to the Cybercrime Unit of the CCID with which the ICAC works closely on the electronic fraud aspect.

Read more

• https://www.mauritiushindinews.com/ion-news/banking-scam-malware-causes-him-to-lose-rs-140-million-a-frenchman-arrested/

• https://www.zinfos-moris.com/Dossier-Arrestation-du-Francais-Guillaume-Bornot-par-l-Icac_a25782.html