Singapore sentences Chinese man to fifteen months in prison for involvement in $2.2 billion money laundering case

Another five similar charges were taken under consideration when passing the sentence.

Zhang, a Chinese national, was initially charged with three counts of forgery-related offenses and was last Friday charged with five additional counts of forgery and failure to account for about A$36 million ($26.4 million) that was deposited into his bank accounts .

Zhang’s 15-month prison sentence – backdated by about eight months from his arrest in August last 12 months – is the harshest penalty imposed thus far within the A$3 billion (US$2.2 billion) case.

Four others who got here before him received sentences of 13 to 14 months each.

The court heard that Zhang was one among 10 people arrested in an island-wide raid on August 15, 2023, as a part of authorities’ crackdown on suspicions of cash laundering.

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Assets price greater than A$131 million were confiscated from Zhang, including money, cryptocurrency and vehicles.

The court heard that between July and October 2020, deposits price A$24 million were made into Zhang’s CIMB account in Singapore.

When the bank asked the defendant to clarify the source of the cash and supply supporting documents, Zhang claimed that the funds got here from him through the sale of a property in Macau.

He later submitted a document dated June 20, 2020 purporting to indicate the sale.

Prosecutors said Zhang knew it was a forged document because he didn’t own the property to start with and that he obtained the document from an individual specifically to support his claims against the bank.

Similarly, in August 2020, he provided one other forged document to CIMB.

This time, the document allegedly showed that he had received a loan of HKD 7.5 million so as to transfer this amount to his account.

Zhang didn’t satisfactorily explain his possession of this sum, which could reasonably be suspected to be a minimum of not directly or partially benefiting from the criminal conduct. This became the topic of the third charge against him.

For the crimes committed, the prosecutor’s office demanded a complete sentence of 14 to 16 months in prison.

They noted a world element to Zhang’s crimes, adding that the counterfeiting allegations were somewhat “sophisticated” and aimed to avoid anti-money laundering measures.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan Lim said: “Crimes that affect the provision of financial services or the integrity of economic infrastructure do attract [a need for] general deterrent and we believe that this is the case.”

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The defense asked for a rather lower penalty, now not than 14 months in prison.

Defense attorney Eugene Thuraisingam cited his client’s guilty plea, cooperation with authorities and voluntary give up of assets as mitigating aspects.

He added that “every little thing indicates that this can be a man who regrets what he has done.”

Passing the judgment, District Judge Ow Yong Tuck Leong said the court must send a powerful message that cash laundering offenses can’t be tolerated and might be handled severely.

He noted that the counterfeiting offenses were intended to defraud local banks and facilitate the transfer of enormous sums of cash to Singapore.

“[The offences] have undermined the arrogance and integrity of our banking system,” the judge said.

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He said this could result in the implementation of additional safeguards, which in turn would increase compliance costs that ultimately fall on the broader community.

The remaining 4 criminals linked to the cash laundering case already before the courts received the next sentences:

• Su Wenqiang, 32, was sentenced on April 2, 2024 to 13 months in prison

• Su Haijin, 41, was sentenced on April 4, 2024 to 14 months in prison

• On April 16, 32-year-old Wang Baosen was sentenced to 13 months in prison

• On April 29, 42-year-old Su Baolin was sentenced to 14 months in prison

For each count of illegally using forged documents, Zhang might have been sentenced to as much as 4 years in prison, a effective or each.

For failing to satisfactorily show possession of property which could reasonably be believed to have benefited from criminal conduct, he might have been fined not greater than A$150,000 or imprisoned for up to a few years, or each. penalties directly.