By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 10/22/2010

http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4413013

A US businessman who already faces possible caning for overstaying his visa in Singapore was charged on Friday with money laundering, police said.

Kamari Kenyada Charlton, 37, could be jailed a maximum of 10 years and fined if convicted of the criminal offences.

"The complaints being investigated include the alleged cheating of elderly Australians, through a phone scam operation," a police statement said.

Charlton was arrested at Changi airport on September 1 after Singapore police received a tip-off from overseas counterparts.

They discovered after the arrest that Charlton had overstayed in Singapore by almost half a year.

Under Singapore law, overstaying for more than 90 days is punishable by a jail term of up to six months and a minimum three strokes of a wooden cane, a penalty dating back to British colonial rule in Singapore.

The punishment entails being struck on the back of the thigh below the buttocks, which can split the skin and leave lasting scars.

If caned, Kamari would be the first American to undergo the punishment in Singapore since the case of Michael Fay, a teenager who was given four strokes of the cane in 1994 for vandalism, despite Washington's appeals for mercy.