Over 3 billion dollars worth of assets. Cars, houses, luxury bags – you name it.
That is the number you’d probably only see in Netflix’s Squid Game. However, it was the value seized by the authorities in one of the largest money laundering cases in the world.
If you need a refresher on what went down on the fateful August of 2023, you can read about some facts of the case on Goody Feed here.
For those who’ve followed the story, we’re here to give you an update.
What Happened in Court
The money laundering case is definitely a corrupted reflection of Singapore – we’re known for our wealth, our low crime rates, and we’re a melting pot of cultures.
This case included everything: a lot of money, police action and a web of 10 individuals of different ethnic backgrounds.
On Thursday (7 Mar), one of them, Mr Su Wenqiang had a pre-trial conference.
While he and his lawyer Sameer Amir Melber did not provide any other information about the case, it’s reported that Mr Melber declared that his plead guilty date will be conducted on 2 April 2024.
The Cambodian 32-year-old man is expected to plead guilty that day for a cumulated total of 11 charges pressed against him.
He’s the first to do so.
Endless List of Charges
His charges came to light gradually since the start of the year. He was initially arrested on 15 Aug 2023 at his landed property in Lewis Road.
It started off as a low-key investigation by a small team of police investigators after the authorities thought that some documents for bank funds, specifically for where the funds were from, could potentially be forged.
The police thought that keeping it hush was important so that the money launderers wouldn’t know they were sus-ed. After nationwide investigations and raids since 2021, they found that money was being transferred from overseas to Singapore.
The money in question was suspected to be earned illegally. That eventually led to a raid on Su’s property, where they found passports from Cambodia, Vanuatu and China.
Shortly after, he was charged with two counts of money laundering. His Mercedes-Benz and house were allegedly funded by illegal gambling activities in the Philippines. This “initiative” targeted people in China who probably didn’t think they would be targets of their elaborate scheme.
Just as you thought it ended there, seven other charges were placed against him on 29 Jan – six of them pertained to buying luxury items and alcohol using money he earned from crimes, as well as paying rent for a landed house and a private condo.
Did you know he was married?
Yes and No.
His marriage to his wife was allegedly fake. No wedding bells rung in 2018 – the marriage certificate was allegedly forged. If only marriages were as easy as roleplaying husband and wife long enough, but I guess it can work when your supposed wife is involved in the web of crimes too.
Reader: That’s nine charges, what’s the other two?
On 31 Jan, he was charged with two counts for providing fake statements in their application to work and get employment passes. They lied with the help of another person to get his wife the work pass, and of course, that’s illegal too.
Asset Round-Up
The couple blend right into Crazy Rich Asians, albeit its twisted version. His “wife”, Ms Su Yanping, had two cars worth a little over $584,000, more than $2 million in her account and a house in Xiamen worth about $1.9 million. The police have since seized her cars.
On top of that, the police announced on 19 Jan that some items cannot be thrown away because they are deemed as evidence.
Some of which include: 55 properties, 15 vehicles, 189 luxury bags, 34 pieces of jewellery and 5 luxury watches. The police have seized the bags, jewellery and watches.
The police also discovered that Su Wenqiang is involved with four other people Wang Dehai, Su Jianfeng, Su Yongcan and Wang Huoqiang. They are linked to gambling.
Birds of the same feather, flock together – Dehai and Jianfeng each have their own count of charges. The other members of their quartet are currently on the run.
They managed to escape the raid on 15 Aug 2023 and there are warrants of arrest and Interpol red notices issued to ensure that they won’t get far.
For added measures, the police have published a list of details of the 10 accused people and 24 other interested individuals connected to them, as well as a notice to financial institutions and jewellery stores asking them to keep a lookout.
