The first person to plead guilty in Singapore’s record $3 billion money laundering case was sentenced to 13 months in jail.
Su Wenqiang’s sentence will be backdated to August last year, when he was arrested along with nine other foreigners during an island-wide raid.
Su, 32, faced 11 charges including for forgery and laundering criminal proceeds. The prosecution on Tuesday proceeded with two after he consented to the rest being taken into consideration for sentencing.
As part of a plea deal, Su also agreed to have all his seized assets worth nearly $6 million forfeited to the state. This includes a Mercedes-Benz car, more than 200 bottles of alcohol, a Tiffany & Co bracelet worth $6,200 and more than $2 million in a United Overseas Bank U11 account.
A strong message needed to be sent that money laundering is a serious offence and affects Singapore’s reputation as a financial hub, the prosecution told Su through an interpreter in court. Lawyers for Su had asked for a reduced sentence, arguing that the victims for the illegal acts were not in Singapore.
Su’s sentencing marks the next chapter in a scandal that has ensnared the world’s largest banks and raised questions about the financial hub’s safeguards against illicit money flows. More developments are in store this week with at least one other suspect in remand also planning to plead guilty, according to a scheduled court hearing.
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The police “will zealously keep our financial system clean and work hard to trace, seize and confiscate all criminal property brought into Singapore,” David Chew, director of the white-collar crime agency, said in a statement after Su’s sentence.
Su was born in China’s Fujian province and holds multiple passports including those from Cambodia and Vanuatu. He was accused of seeking to launder proceeds from an illegal remote gambling service in the Philippines targeting people in China.
