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SINGAPORE: Singapore defended its popularity as a worldwide monetary hub on Tuesday after a large cash laundering case crossed $2 billion in seized and frozen property, with a senior minister saying it was seemingly among the many world’s largest.
The dimensions of the investigation has uncovered potential loopholes within the city-state’s anti-money laundering legal guidelines that crime syndicates may exploit, prompting questions in parliament on why it was not detected sooner.
“This case is a reminder that even essentially the most stringent preventive measures could be circumvented by decided criminals,” Second House Affairs Minister Josephine Teo mentioned in a speech to lawmakers in parliament.
Authorities have seized and frozen property now price greater than $2.04 billion in a collection of raids since August towards the suspected worldwide cash laundering ring, mentioned Teo.
Police arrested 10 international nationals — from China, Turkiye, Cambodia, Cyprus and Vanuatu — accused of being members of the ring suspected of laundering proceeds from abroad prison exercise together with scams and on-line playing.
Extra arrests and asset seizures are anticipated as police proceed with their investigation, Teo mentioned.
Final month Singaporean police mentioned that they had seized and frozen greater than $1.76 billion price of property in sweeping raids however these have since grown by lots of of tens of millions.
Teo mentioned the most recent trove included 152 properties, 62 autos, hundreds of bottles of liquor and wine, money, cryptocurrencies, gold bars, luxurious baggage and watches and costly items of jewelry.
Police first acquired “disparate data” about suspicious transactions in 2021, together with the usage of suspected solid paperwork to assist sources of funds, and commenced conducting raids after that they had collected way more proof, she mentioned.
It was not solely one of many largest anti-money laundering circumstances in Singapore but additionally “seemingly the world”, Teo instructed MPs.
A mean of 43,000 suspicious transactions had been reported yearly in Singapore between 2020 and 2022, or greater than 150 per working day, she mentioned.
Experiences that China had put any strain on Singapore to resolve the case had been “utterly unfaithful,” she added.
Second Minister of Finance Indranee Rajah mentioned an inter-ministerial committee shall be shaped “to maintain our regime updated with more and more subtle crimes”.
Alvin Tan, a minister of state for commerce, mentioned a number of the accused could have been linked to household workplaces — entities that handle the controlling property of 1 household — that had been granted tax incentives. — AFP
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