How Suspects Laundered Billions in Singapore for Years

How Suspects Laundered Billions in Singapore for Years

(Bloomberg) -- Van Dehej was already a fugitive when he settled in Singapore five years ago. Chinese police offered a reward for information on his alleged involvement in illegal gambling.

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Upon arriving in Singapore, Wang and his wife opened a family office and received work passes to live in the city-state. They opened a bank with Credit Suisse and the couple received passports in the tax haven of Cyprus. Wang, 34, spent 23 million Singapore dollars ($17. 2 million) on a condo in the prime Orchard district and had about $2. 8 million in cryptocurrency.

Wang's idyllic world came crashing down in August when he was one of 10 people of Chinese descent arrested and charged in the country's biggest ever money-laundering operation. Authorities seized more than 2. 8 billion Singapore dollars worth of assets, including gold bars, jewelry, 62 cars and 152 properties. The figure could grow as many suspects have yet to be released.

The sudden seizures shocked the tranquil country and forced it to reassess policies that have long allowed money to flow into the world's largest banks. The police raids in the prime location highlight the price Singapore is paying for its open borders.

"It's a big deal," says Christopher Rica, managing director of Blackpeak (Holdings) Limited, a Singapore-based risk research and consulting firm.

Singapore has taken measures to attract super wealthy for decades, producing financial sector, and has become one of the wealthy countries on the earth. Programs that open a lot of tax cuts and lon g-term stays have paid off, and the billionaires from James Dyson to Ray Dario have opened a family office. In the last seven years, the capital management industry has almost doubled the asset balance, reaching $ 3. 650 billion.

In recent years, the waves of Chinese investors who have fled pandemic that hit all industries, from technology to real estate, and strict regulations related to crackdowns. Singapore, where Chinese ethnic groups account for about thre e-quarters of the population, are a natural choice for them. Since 2019, direct investment from mainland China and Hong Kong has reached 79 % to 19. 3 billion Singapore Dollar. Private wine bars and suburban clubs have benefited from costs.

Related article: Chinese wealthy people use underground networks to withdraw invisible money

Dirty funds flooded to participate in legal activities in Singapore, and while cash from Credit Switzerland to City Group was gathered in global credit organizations, unexpected strategies were forced to reconsider all of them. Ta.

A remarkable policy includes a family office after at least one defendant states that there is a possibility that at least one of the accused will establish a tax incentive office. According to documents surveyed by Bloomberg News and information from people familiar with the case, 10 defendants have at least five family offices. It is unknown whether all five people have taken tax reduction measures. As of the end of 2022, more than 1, 100 families around the world have created such an organization in Singapore and manages the nation, about three times as 2020.

Read more. While the relationship between Singapore and Ronda is scrutinized, consider the rules of establishing a family office

Many defendants also invested in existing companies and established their own companies to establish communication. According to the Ministry of Labor Resource records, for example, Van D e-high, for example, in June 2024, has invested in a Chinese restaurant network, a delivery bowl PTE.

Another defendant, 4 0-yea r-old Soumai Tatsu, became director of the restaurant company NO SIGNBOARD HOLDINGS LTD. in 2021. In 2021, he invested 6. 5 million Singapore dollars through an organization managed by Lim Young Sim. According to the material, SU also owns or owns seven other shares.

After his son warns that "the police will come," Sue, who broke his legs and injured his wrist, was charged with a money laundering in Singapore. I am. Sue was arrested with Singapore's 171 million Singapore dollar assets associated with him and his wife. His lawyer did not respond to e-mails for comments on the story.

The Royal Sea has been nominated by China, according to the court's statement in the court, in a class B warrant that is not applied to the most serious crime. However, he acknowledged that he had organized remote gambling in the Philippines from 2012 to 2016, and believes that it is still legal. There is. Online gambling is prohibited in China.

Rim, who was accused of Delibowl owner Jerry Lyoo, who was accused of price operation, did not respond to the comment request.

Singapore has acknowledged that there are many problems in trying to prevent money laundering from getting a labor permit. In October, Tan Sailen said in the Diet: "Some people may do illegal acts by exploiting the Singapore Labor Relations system.

"Some people, like the money laundering, may abuse the Singapore Workers Pass system to perform illegal acts," said the Minister of Labor. "Criminals are finding new ways to avoid our laws and regulations every day, and they spend their time adapting their own ways.

Singapore is still investigating the results of a littl e-known sloppy, which is undoubtedly useful for almost all suspects to find their private businesses. The Singapore law requires a master or permanent resident holder as a certified agent when a foreigner establishes a corporation. To meet this demand, some local residents have become serial directors, and at the same time presented themselves to hundreds of companies.

Wang Shunjin stands out. The Singapores were more than 200 companies as directors, shareholders, and secretarys, and were in charge of at least nine companies related to the arrested three. < SPAN> After his son warns that "the police will come," Sue broke his legs and injured his wrist when he jumped off the borrower's balcony, and his wrist is now a money laundering that has gained the benefit of illegal gambling in Singapore. Is prosecuted in. Sue was arrested with Singapore's 171 million Singapore dollar assets associated with him and his wife. His lawyer did not respond to e-mails for comments on the story.

The Royal Sea has been nominated by China, according to the court's statement in the court, in a class B warrant that is not applied to the most serious crime. However, he acknowledged that he had organized remote gambling in the Philippines from 2012 to 2016, and believes that it is still legal. There is. Online gambling is prohibited in China.

Rim, who was accused of Delibowl owner Jerry Lyoo, who was accused of price operation, did not respond to the comment request.

Singapore has acknowledged that there are many problems in trying to prevent money laundering from getting a labor permit. In October, Tan Sailen said in the Diet: "Some people may do illegal acts by exploiting the Singapore Labor Relations system.

"Some people, like the money laundering, may abuse the Singapore Workers Pass system to perform illegal acts," said the Minister of Labor. "Criminals are finding new ways to avoid our laws and regulations every day, and they spend their time adapting their own ways.

Singapore is still investigating the results of a littl e-known sloppy, which is undoubtedly useful for almost all suspects to find their private businesses. The Singapore law requires a master or permanent resident holder as a certified agent when a foreigner establishes a corporation. To meet this demand, some local residents have become serial directors, and at the same time presented themselves to hundreds of companies.

Wang Shunjin stands out. The Singapores were more than 200 companies as directors, shareholders, and secretarys, and were in charge of at least nine companies related to the arrested three. After his son warns that "the police will come," Sue, who broke his legs and injured his wrist, was charged with a money laundering in Singapore. I am. Sue was arrested with Singapore's 171 million Singapore dollar assets associated with him and his wife. His lawyer did not respond to e-mails for comments on the story.

The Royal Sea has been nominated by China, according to the court's statement in the court, in a class B warrant that is not applied to the most serious crime. However, he acknowledged that he had organized remote gambling in the Philippines from 2012 to 2016, and believes that it is still legal. There is. Online gambling is prohibited in China.

Rim, who was accused of Delibowl owner Jerry Lyoo, who was accused of price operation, did not respond to the comment request.

Singapore has acknowledged that there are many problems in trying to prevent money laundering from getting a labor permit. In October, Tan Sailen said in the Diet: "Some people may do illegal acts by exploiting the Singapore Labor Relations system.

"Some people, like the money laundering, may abuse the Singapore Workers Pass system to perform illegal acts," said the Minister of Labor. "Criminals are finding new ways to avoid our laws and regulations every day, and they spend their time adapting their own ways.

Singapore is still investigating the results of a littl e-known sloppy, which is undoubtedly useful for almost all suspects to find their private businesses. The Singapore law requires a master or permanent resident holder as a certified agent when a foreigner establishes a corporation. To meet this demand, some local residents have become serial directors, and at the same time presented themselves to hundreds of companies.

Wang Shunjin stands out. The Singapores were more than 200 companies as directors, shareholders, and secretarys, and were in charge of at least nine companies related to the arrested three.

Two secretaries of one of the companies linked to Zhang Zuolin, another defendant, a company titled Venturehaven, checked its website and found that there was an opportunity to register a business within 24 hours. Only these two secretaries (Koch Ten Ten and Sahur Binte Saad) hold more than 3, 500 positions in any company. None of the company's employee records related to Van Zunjae were charged with any crime at least once.

Zhang's lawyers said they had not had the opportunity to provide comment. Van Zunjae flatly rejected the explanation, and Venturehaven did not respond to requests for comment from the two employees of its company.

"What has caused this is a problem," said Van Junze, according to a statement by Chua Choon Hong, group head of combating economic cruelty at Moody's Analytics, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. "Hundreds and hundreds of companies are used once, what is the address?" while in some cases they were formed for a short time. "Why it is necessary, we don't know."

In Singapore, with 600. 000 legal entities (about one in 10 residents), collective registration is a big business. Last year, Bloomberg News reported that one man was again Singapore corporate secretary for more than 200 companies, including those belonging to Maganma, a group targeted for punishment in the United States and the United Kingdom for trading arms with Junta soldiers.

"The branch is definitely growing," Chua said, revealing that in fact almost every start-up is growing its own branch and managing the companies outside Singapore through their district secretaries. But "good things and bad things come together."

The authorities say that the inaccessibility of the limit on the number of directors is in line with international standards, with the vast majority of directors (99%) holding the minimum 10 positions. That said, at least in the authorities' text, no real-time limit will be introduced, and a draft rule configuration is expected to be submitted for debate in Parliament in the next year.

In Singapore, there is still uncovering which banks the accused had dealings with. Since his arrest, Wang Shuiming has deposited S$92 million with Credit Suisse and S$33 million with Swiss Julius Baer Group.

Citigroup and Singapore lenders DBS Group Holdings, Overseas Banking Corporation and United Overseas Bank Limited were also considered some of the banks accused. In fact, Singapore's main bank DBS said its risk was lined up with the major real estate finance, at almost S$100 million. In the bank's banking text, UOB was insignificant. OCBC President Helen Wong said the bank's risk was minor. In a statement from Citigroup, the bank is committed to fighting money laundering and ensuring the best stereotype management and control. The New York-based bank said it would work with authorities to solidify and protect the cohesion of the economic system. Julius Baer flatly denied this explanation.

"Large deposits constitute a great competitive advantage for banks," Blackpeak told Dash. "If these kids arrived with a million dollars, they would have proved the door, but they arrived with a billion, and they rolled out the red carpet."

Singapore's Monetary Department, the state's economic regulator, said it had interacted with banks and praised some unidentified creditors for raising restless signals that undoubtedly helped police. According to People's Texts, People with History, some banks have completed surveillance pending inspections by the central bank in the space to find out if they are connected to suspects, and how testing of customers as a whole is being done. Credit Suisse became one of the first banks to be tested, Bloomberg News said in October. The Swiss bank, now part of UBS Group AG, has categorically abandoned this statement.

Read more Singapore will expose Credit Suisse and other banks in scandal

They suspect that private bankers also played their own role. From Tsimin, in the past, a Citigroup banker, for example, worked as a minimum amount with one member of what is called the "Fujian Gang", from where all 10 suspects are actually, deemed to be a display of the southern province, written under oath and written instructions under people, their people and their people, business and their people and their people. The Commissioner of Citigroup in Singapore, referring to a previous statement, said, "This person has not worked for our company since April 2022. We do not comment on matters under consideration in court.

It is not going well with Van Zimin, who was released on bond and almost acquitted.

As a result of the recent arrests, more than $1 billion in Singapore dollars alone has been seized from bank accounts, but according to the police, at least eight people have been charged, and this may be just the tip of the iceberg.

"As the subsequent investigations progress, new arrests and wealthy individuals are also emerging," said Home Minister Josephine Teo.

According to the text, Singapore Police began a larg e-scale investigation in 2021, noticing a suspicious transaction related to the gangs of Fujian Province in the same year. According to the text, the authorities have decided to wait for the amount of evidence necessary to arrest as many as possible.

Read more Singapore's money laundering incident, pull the legs of a major bank

In Singapore, a rare country where there are few crimes that are not ashamed to put money unprotected in a crowded supermarket, the suspicion of money laundering is the latest in a series of scandals that have occurred in the past decade. Money laundering violations are related to 1malaysia Development BHD., Germany Wirecard AG. In these cases, bankers were not allowed to work at a branch, or fined creditors.

Money laundering is obviously not Singapore's unique phenomenon. According to the United Nations Pharmaceutical Crime Office, the world has been cleaning $ 800 billion to $ 2 trillion in the world, which is equivalent to 2 % to 5 % of the gross domestic product. Singapore suspects had businesses and real estate all over the world, such as Dubai, Hong Kong, and London. For example, Police reported that Royal Tokui had $ 53 million in Hong Kong's UBS, China Bank of Industrial and Bank, and the Bank of China, $ 53 million, and $ 500, 000.

According to a report from the Financial Activity Subcommittee, which has a headquarters in Paris, and the Basel Management University, Singapore has been evaluated beyond the average for illegal funding. However, the strength of the country is risk awareness and international cooperation. A fields that require improvement include restrictions on the work of intermediaries such as real estate agents.

"In fact, the latest money laundering incident is still" relevant, "said Svetrana Bogs Roughskaya, the AML indicator planning officer of the University of Basel.

"The regulation system for Singapore's money laundering and terrorist funding is in line with the FATF benchmark," Mas and the Ministry of Interior answered the Bloomberg question. The government is working on the "absolute and effective implementation" specified by FATF on the duployment requirements for real estate agents and jewelry and metal dealers, and is strengthening the coach against this sector.

The removal of such an elite property has raised questions about whether brokers responded too late to red flags. The Real Estate Board, the local industry regulator, is investigating whether mistakes were made. Outgoing central bank governor Ravi Menon has flagged the possibility of a problem.

"Brokers have a duty to check for suspicious transactions. I don't think so. This is one of the areas we need to focus on," Menon said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's Haslinda Amin.

Maintaining Singapore's impeccable reputation is crucial for him ahead of a new round of ratings in 2025 from a global agency for fighting financial crimes. A general election is due at the end of this year, and Prime Minister Lee Hsian Loong could replace Finance Minister Lawrence Wong as leader of the ruling party. The widening welfare gap is likely to be one of the most serious election issues, given that the newly wealthy are spending on everything from cars to property.

"Singapore can attract funds from across the region, and because we have borders, that gives us extra responsibility to ensure that our anti-money laundering measures are effective," said John Cusack, president of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crimes in London. The aim of such oversight is "to trace the money and take it away from the criminals." This looks like a success story in achieving that objective.

PM Lee said the money laundering case was not a scandal and that the "system" was pure.

"If my system was corrupt, then I have a problem," he said in an interview at Bloomberg's New Economic Forum last month. "This is a criminal case. Criminals do bad things. We find them, investigate them and prosecute them in court."

Given the huge amount of money flowing into Singapore, authorities say it is almost impossible to catch everyone who exploits loopholes or those who enter the country illegally. Authorities said the 10 arrested had different visas to live and work, in part because none of them were on Interpol's red list, despite China's wishes. Three of them - Chen Chenjuan, Su Wenqian and Su Jianfeng - were wanted in China and were charged after raids in Singapore.

Lawyer Su Jianfeng did not respond to a request for comment. Chan's lawyers said he would request a court date. Su Wanxiang's lawyer said they were "considering options" for his client.

• This property seizure highlights how many wealth is distributed in Singapore. According to the authorities and property documents obtained by Bloomberg Agency, there were multiple properties from the gorgeous villa on the gate village on Sentosa to several department stores in the company's downtown area. The seized items contain 164 luxury watches, 294 bags, thousands of alcoholic beverages and wine.
• According to data on rent in 2020, the king, like other defendants, is now in Changi prison far from his mansion, about 17. 200 square feet on the elite street Bishops Gate. According to Drew & Amp; amp; amp; Napier LLC, he wants to file a lawsuit. Won deleted the ongoing trial and refused to comment on other questions.
• The recession was also reflected in the local economy. The buying and selling of elite houses has slowed. At the Sentosa Golf Club, the private golf club, the membership fee was more than $ 600, and five defendants, including Sue Hizin, were listed as unpaiders. < SPAN> Radish Singh, the head of the Southeast Asian Financial Service Risk Division of Young Young, said, "Silver", "Silver, who can definitely protect any system from the penetration of spoiled money. There is no "bullet".
• According to the police, the 4 2-yea r-old Wang Mizu resident in Turkey, Cambodia, and Vanuatsu, and raised the funds for 10 apartments in the Canning Hill Piers Condominium along the Singapore River.
• During the recent visit to private roads, several defendants had at least four cars, from Ferrari to Roll s-Royce. Van Bingan's rental mansion, which is regarded as the top of the allegations of the gambling online group Hongli, is a few minutes on foot from Prime Minister Lee's home in the tanglin area. Basically, we cannot contact Van Bingan.