$3b money laundering case: First S’porean charged; he allegedly disposed of Rolls-Royce, Ferrari
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 16 Aug 2024
Author: Christine Tan
Liew Yik Kit, 41, was the personal driver to Cambodian national Su Binghai, who fled during the probe and is wanted for his involvement in alleged money laundering offences.
On the first anniversary of the arrests of 10 foreigners in Singapore’s largest money laundering case, the first Singaporean linked to the crimes was hauled to court.
Liew Yik Kit, 41, was the personal driver to Cambodian national Su Binghai, who fled during the probe and is wanted for his involvement in alleged money laundering offences.
Liew was handed two charges on Aug 15 – one for lying to the police, and another one for obstructing the course of justice.
He had allegedly lied to police that Su did not leave any valuables in his possession, when he actually had the businessman’s four luxury cars – a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Ferrari F8 Spider and a Ferrari Stradale.
The former driver then purportedly disposed of the four cars at the multi-storey carpark at Block 20 Upper Boon Keng Road between Sept 11, 2023, and Oct 5, 2023.
This alleged act caused the police to miss out on seizing the four vehicles and obstructed the course of justice.
Company records show Liew was the authorised representative of a car rental company, Quality Limo Services. The firm is no longer in operation.
Liew, who has yet to engage a lawyer, asked the court for time to consider his plea and seek legal advice. He was granted bail of $15,000.
Two Chinese nationals who were former relationship managers at banks were also charged on Aug 15.
Liu Kai, 35, who was a relationship manager at Swiss private bank Julius Baer, was charged with abetting one of the convicts in the money laundering case to use a forged document.
Liu faces one charge of abetting Lin Baoying, the only woman convicted in the case, to submit a forged tax document in November 2020.
Police said Liu allegedly received various alterations of a forged tax document from Lin before submitting the final version to the bank as a supporting document to facilitate the opening of a bank account in Switzerland.
Wang Qiming, 26, a former relationship manager at Citibank, whose clients included two of the 10 convicted money launderers, Su Baolin and Vang Shuiming, was handed 10 charges.
According to charge sheets, around December 2020, Wang allegedly abetted Su Baolin in making a false loan agreement to deceive Standard Chartered Bank about the source of the deposit made into Su Baolin’s bank account.
Wang had allegedly possessed $481,678 in cash collected on behalf of Su Baolin on Dec 15, 2020, and could not satisfactorily explain where it came from. He was charged with laundering this sum.
Between April 19 and April 25, 2021, he also allegedly forged a loan document to deceive Citibank about the source of Vang’s funds, thus allowing the deposit of $999,980 into Vang’s bank account.
Wang faces one count of obstructing the course of justice by deleting the WhatsApp application on his mobile phone on Oct 12, 2021, which could have contained his communication records with the bank’s clients.
The former Citibank employee was also charged with providing false information to an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer on Nov 15, 2021, claiming he had lost his passport, when it had been surrendered to the Singapore Police Force.
In court affidavits produced during the hearings of the 10 foreigners, Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) investigators said they first probed Wang over alleged forgery claims before arresting him in 2021.
His employment was terminated in April 2022, according to an earlier statement by the Wall Street bank.
Liu is represented by a legal team from Lee & Lee, while Wang is represented by lawyers from Anthony Law Corp. Their lawyers said the men have not indicated any plea.
Liu was granted bail of $15,000, while Wang was granted bail of $25,000. Liew’s and Liu’s cases will be heard again on Sept 12, and Wang’s case is scheduled for Sept 19.
On Aug 14, CAD director David Chew said in the police statement: “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 help clients forge documents to conceal the true nature of their assets must be dealt with robustly under Singapore’s laws.
On Aug 15, 2023, more than 400 police officers raided luxury housing estates in Singapore simultaneously and nabbed 10 foreigners.
About $3 billion in cash and assets, including jewellery, watches, cars and bottles of alcohol, were seized or issued with prohibition of disposal orders.
The nine men and one woman were convicted and agreed to surrender more than $900 million in cash and assets as part of their plea deals.
The remaining sum was traced to 17 other suspects who had fled Singapore during the probe.
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 10 convicted were sentenced to jail terms of between 13 and 17 months. All have been deported and barred from re-entering Singapore.
Su Wenqiang, Wang Baosen, Su Baolin, Su Haijin, Chen Qingyuan, Zhang Ruijin, Lin and Su Jianfeng were deported to Cambodia.
Vang was deported to Japan, while Wang Dehai was deported to Britain.
Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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