$3b money laundering case: 2 ex-bank employees and former driver of fugitive to be charged in court
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 15 Aug 2024
Author: Nadine Chua & Andrew Wong
The former bank employees are Chinese nationals, while the driver is a Singaporean.
Two former bank employees will be charged in court on Aug 15 over money laundering and forgery offences, one year after 400 police officers raided multiple luxury homes in the biggest money laundering probe in Singapore.
In a statement on Aug 14, police said a Singaporean man will also be taken to court.
The 41-year-old was the personal driver to businessman Su Binghai, who fled amid the probe and is currently wanted for his involvement in alleged money laundering offences.
The Singaporean will face two charges – for lying to the police that Su did not leave any valuables in his possession, and for obstructing the course of justice by disposing of four vehicles belonging to his former boss.
Police did not name the former bank employees but identified them as Chinese nationals, aged 26 and 35.
The Straits Times understands that the younger man is Wang Qiming.
He previously worked at Citibank as a relationship manager but his employment was terminated in April 2022, according to an earlier statement by the Wall Street bank.
Wang’s name had appeared in a number of court documents during the hearings of the 10 foreigners.
In affidavits produced in court then, Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) investigators said they had first investigated Wang over alleged forgery claims before arresting him in October 2021.
The authorities found links between Wang and Vang Shuiming, who was convicted in the case. He was Vang’s relationship manager at Citibank in 2021.
In their statement, police said: “Between April 19, 2021 and April 25, 2021, the 26-year-old man allegedly forged a loan document to cheat the bank in which he was working as to the source of Vang Shuiming’s funds, thereby allowing the deposit of $999,980 into Vang Shuiming’s bank account on March 29, 2021.”
Wang had also purportedly helped Su Baolin, who was similarly convicted in the case.
Police said the 26-year-old man was purportedly in possession of $481,678 of cash collected on behalf of Su Baolin on Dec 15, 2020, for which he has been unable to provide a satisfactory account of its provenance.
Wang had been on bail since Nov 16, 2021. He was not considered a flight risk, with the police saying in an affidavit that he did not have substantial assets at his disposal and lacked foreign connections who could help him abscond.
Police said he is facing 10 charges in total.
Meanwhile, the 35-year-old man is facing one charge.
He had allegedly abetted Lin Baoying, who was also convicted, to submit a forged tax document to a foreign-incorporated bank to facilitate the opening of a bank account in Switzerland.
The man was a relationship manager with the local branch of the bank.
In their statement, police said they take a serious view of the laundering of criminal proceeds through the financial system.
Mr David Chew, director of the CAD, which led the probe, said: “Banks, as important gatekeepers of our financial system, have compliance systems in place to detect and turn away criminal funds.
“We rely on the integrity of bankers in general and relationship managers in particular, as the interface between clients and the banks, to ensure this.”
He added that those who help clients circumvent their financial institutions’ due diligence processes or who help clients forge documents to conceal the true nature of their assets, must be dealt with robustly under our laws.
A report by Bloomberg showed the 10 former convicts had deposited money in 16 banks, with Credit Suisse having the largest portion at $79.6 million, and Citigroup a close second at $79.3 million.
Local bank UOB was third, with $41.6 million.
Tightened regulations
Following the raids, the authorities moved to strengthen the regulatory environment not just in the banking sector but also for corporate service providers.
On its part, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) indicated that it was conducting detailed supervisory reviews and inspections of the financial institutions linked to the case.
The regulatory body said it will take action if financial institutions are found to have fallen short of its requirements.
Separately, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) started scrutinising corporate service providers after it emerged that several of the former convicts had set up shell companies allegedly with the help of Singaporeans.
There are close to 3,000 firms providing corporate services in Singapore.
ST had in 2023 revealed that Singaporean Wang Junjie, a registered qualified individual (RQI), was named as secretary or director of 185 companies, including nine linked to the money laundering case.
RQIs and registered filing agents (RFAs) provide corporate secretariat services for business entities, such as helping customers to incorporate companies and file annual returns.
Following an investigation by Acra, Wang Junjie, who was the director and RQI of LW Business Consultancy, had his registration as a qualified individual cancelled in January 2024.
In February, the regulatory body sanctioned Jackson Lim Wei, who was an RQI and director of Sprout Corporate Services. Lim was linked to several companies connected to the money laundering probe.
At least five RQIs and four RFAs, including Wang and Lim and their firms, have been sanctioned since news of the money laundering case broke in August 2023.
The Government has since enhanced laws to allow its agencies to share data like tax returns and business information to better tackle money laundering offences in Singapore and speed up investigations.
Meanwhile, Parliament on Aug 6 passed the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters Bill. The proposed law gives the Singapore courts the power to order the sale of seized properties without the consent of involved parties.
Under the proposed law, an abscondee suspected of committing a crime here has to personally present himself before a law enforcement officer to assist in investigations, before he can make a claim to the property seized in respect of the offence.
The Bill will also make it easier for Singapore to prosecute money laundering offences as the prosecution will no longer need to prove that the money laundered constituted benefits from criminal conduct, or show the complete trail of funds.
Singapore has made asset recovery a priority in its national anti-money laundering regime.
In a speech at the opening of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary Meeting on June 26, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the strategy will deprive criminals of their illicit funds and assets, remove the financial incentives for criminals to launder their illicit proceeds in Singapore, and return these assets to victims.
“Singapore is fully committed to doing our part. As an international financial and business hub, we recognise that we face greater money laundering and terrorism financing risks.
“But we are determined to do what is needed to respond to these risks and safeguard Singapore’s reputation as a trusted financial centre,” said PM Wong.
The country rolled out its first-ever National Asset Recovery Strategy that same day and revealed that anti-money laundering efforts here had seen the authorities seize $6 billion linked to criminal and money laundering activities between January 2019 and June 2024.
About $416 million has been returned to victims, while $1 billion has been forfeited to the state. A large bulk of the remaining sum is linked to ongoing investigations or court proceedings.
Islandwide raids
The CAD-led operation took place on Aug 15, 2023, with the police launching simultaneous raids across luxury housing estates in Singapore.
As the authorities widened the dragnet, a number of suspects fled the country.
About $3 billion in cash and assets were seized or issued with prohibition of disposal orders, including jewellery, watches, cars and bottles of alcohol.
The 10 convicted agreed to surrender more than $900 million in cash and assets as part of their plea deals.
The remaining sum was traced to the 17 suspects who had left Singapore abruptly amid the probe.
Police had earlier indicated that there would be no let-up in their attempt to haul in others linked to the case, saying they were working with Interpol to issue red notices against some of the suspects in the case.
The Interpol Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
In January 2024, warrants of arrest and Interpol Red Notices were issued against two suspects – Cambodian nationals Su Yongcan, 33, and Wang Huoqiang, 29.
The nine men and one woman arrested in the operation were sentenced to jail terms of between 13 and 17 months.
All 10 of them have since been deported and barred from re-entering Singapore.
Su Wenqiang, Wang Baosen, Su Baolin, Su Haijin, Chen Qingyuan, Zhang Ruijin, Lin Baoying and Su Jianfeng were deported to Cambodia.
Vang Shuiming was deported to Japan while Wang Dehai was deported to Britain.
Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
1623