Two Bankers Face Charges in Singapore’s $2.3 Billion Money-Laundering Case

In Singapore’s history, it’s for the first time that two of the Chineses ex-bankers are accused of involvement in a money laundering case worth S$3 billion ($2.3 billion).

Who were the main characters of the money laundering case?

Wang Qiming, a 26 years old Chinese man was accused of 10 crimes, one of which was creating fake bank documents according to the charge sheet of the local state court.

Wang’s past working experience in Citibank Singapore Ltd. was highlighted in the Monetary Authority of Singapore report.

Liu Kai, a 35-year-old ex-worker of bank  Julius Baer & Co., was assisting in creating a false Chinese tax report for the currently accused money launderer for a bank account opening in Switzerland.

Response from both alleged men

According to the charge sheet, Liu has a permanent residency in Singapore. Both men have been accused loudly in Mandarin, and they have refused to respond to this matter.

Arising of new charges in Singapore

Recent charges have been filed after a year of ongoing cases of arresting rich foreigners in Singapore due to involvement in money laundering.

Singapore’s authorities have imprisoned ten Chinese people this year for laundering funds obtained through the gambling market and recent charges have been imposed after 1 year of arresting wealthy foreigners who are involved in a money laundering case in Singapore.

In addition, they have remarkably confiscated cash, properties, digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, and other assets worth approximately S$3 billion.

Impact on Singapore’s financial sector

Legal records have highlighted the total possessions of more than $370 million through different financial organizations of accused China-based individuals.

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Most deposits have been found in Citigroup Inc. and Credit Suisse. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been investigating several banks. Consequently, banks must face sanctions for collaborating with money launderers through various means, such as deposit bank accounts, loans, and other financial products.

Wang and Liu are on bail currently and are expected to re-appear in the court in upcoming month September.

Who are the identified key individuals in the money laundering case?

Among ten alleged money laundering, two were customers of Wang Qiming named Su Baolin, and Vang Shuiming.

Singapore police stated, after investigating the case, that “Wang assisted Su in late 2020 to make a false loan agreement document to conceal the source of illicit financial deposits into Su’s bank account.”

Moreover, two different transaction deposit slips of S$999,980 were attempted to be justified by creating fake remittance receipts in 2021 for a Citi bank account by Wang.

Su Binghai, a 41-year-old Singapore-based individual who was accused of providing driving services in a money laundering case, was also charged criminally on Thursday.

Among other convicts, Liew Yik Kit lied to the police during investigations after assisting Su in selling four expensive vehicles at a multistory car park the previous year. Two Rolls-Royces and two Ferraris were included, as per the report.

Liu submitted a falsified tax report in November 2020 to open an account in Switzerland for Lin Baoying, who has been accused of money laundering. According to MAS records, Liu worked in the bank from 2019 to 2022.

Maximum Penalty Announced?

A total of 10 year jail and fines have been announced as the maximum penalty for these kinds of crimes and other offenses