Total value of assets seized in money laundering case now more than $2.8 billion

The 10 suspects involved in Singapore’s largest money laundering case have been arrested and denied bail with investigations ongoing. The country’s Second Minister for Home Affairs, Josephine Teo, announced in Parliament on October 3rd that the total value of assets seized was now in excess of $2.8 billion.

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This figure is almost three times the initial figure of $1 billion when the case first became public in mid-August. It includes 152 properties with an estimated value of more than $1.24 billion, monies in bank accounts amounting to more than $1.45 billion, cash of over $76 million, and cryptocurrencies totalling around $38 million. Additionally, 62 vehicles, thousands of liquor and wine bottles, 68 gold bars, 294 luxury bags, 164 luxury watches, and 546 pieces of jewellery were also seized.

Minister Teo revealed that reports first came to Singapore’s anti-money laundering enforcement officers in 2021 and early in 2022 an intelligence probe was launched. This was kept to a ‘very small group’ of officers, and no overt investigative action was taken at the start to prevent alerting the suspects.

The government has responded to tighten laws against money laundering with a new inter-ministerial committee chaired by Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah. The committee includes office holders from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Manpower, and Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The focus of the committee will be to prevent corporate structures from being exploited, enabling financial institutions to collaborate better and strengthen their defence against money laundering, and to create shared capabilities among government agencies to better detect suspicious activity. In addition, the committee will look into how other players, such as corporate service providers, real estate agents, and precious stones and metals dealers, can help to combat money laundering risks.