Singapore jails a Fujian man over first $2.2 billion money laundering conviction

AND Singapore a court on Tuesday convicted the primary defendant within the largest-ever money laundering case, in one of the vital high-profile criminal investigations within the City State, through which greater than A$3 billion ($2.2 billion) in assets was seized or frozen.

On Tuesday, on the court hearing, Su Wenqiang, 32, pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison, backdated to his arrest in August.

Su faces 11 charges, including forgery and laundering the proceeds of crimes resembling buying multiple bottles of worthwhile alcohol and paying A$48,000 ($35,860) a month to rent a luxury apartment near the town’s Orchard Road shopping strip. The prosecutor’s office brought two charges.

Su Wenqiang was sentenced to 13 months in prison on Tuesday, along with his arrest date set for August. Photo: bilibili

A powerful message should be sent that cash laundering is a serious crime and affects Singapore’s fame as a financial center, the prosecutor’s office told Su through a translator. Su’s lawyers asked for leniency, arguing that the victims of the illegal acts weren’t in Singapore.

Su’s verdict will mark one other chapter in a scandal that has embroiled the world’s largest banks and raised questions on the financial center’s safeguards against illicit money flows. There might be further developments this week, and in accordance with a scheduled court hearing, not less than one other suspect in custody also plans to plead guilty.

Su was born in ChinaFujian Province and holds multiple passports, including those from Cambodia and Vanuatu. One of 10 foreigners having multiple citizenships arrested last August in Singapore following simultaneous raids, he was accused of attempting to launder proceeds from an illegal distant gambling site in Philippines geared toward people in China.

A large money laundering case reveals the dark side of Singapore’s efforts to lure the super-rich

The raids attracted huge local attention and initially confiscated luxury properties, cars, gold bars, handbags and jewellery value A$1 billion ($739.37 million).

Police previously said the ten suspects were allegedly “laundering proceeds from overseas organized criminal activities, including fraud and online gambling.”

Additional reporting by Reuters

Singapore jails a Fujian man over first $2.2 billion money laundering conviction