Andreas Wong
The Street Times
December 11, 2024


A former banking relationship manager who allegedly facilitated crimes that contributed to Singapore’s largest money laundering case will plead guilty to 10 charges, including money laundering and forgery.


Wang Qiming, who was indicted on August 15, had made his intention known through his lawyer from Anthony Law Corp during a trial on December 11.


The 27-year-old former relationship manager at Citibank will return to court on January 8, 2025. He remains free on $25,000 bail.


The Chinese national is the first person to potentially be convicted for his role in assisting the money launderers.


During his time at the bank, Wang’s clients included two of the ten convicted money launderers: Su Baolin and Vang Shuiming.


Prosecutors said that around December 2020, Wang allegedly helped Su arrange a false loan agreement to deceive Standard Chartered Bank about the source of a deposit into Su’s bank account.


Wang reportedly had $481,678 in cash in his possession, which was reasonably suspected to be the benefits of Su’s criminal conduct.


Wang, who was unable to satisfactorily explain where the money came from, is accused of laundering the amount.


Between April 19 and April 25, 2021, he also allegedly forged a loan document to deceive Citibank about the source of Vang’s money, allowing a $999,980 deposit into Vang’s bank account.


Wang faces one count of obstruction of justice by deleting the WhatsApp application on his mobile phone on October 12, 2021, which could contain his communication data with the bank’s customers.


The former Citibank employee was also charged on November 15, 2021, with providing false information to an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority official.


He claimed that he had lost his passport, when in fact it had been surrendered to the Singapore Police Force.


In court affidavits prepared during the hearings of the 10 convicted foreigners, investigators from the Commercial Affairs Department said they investigated Wang in 2021 over alleged forgery claims before arresting him.


His employment with Citibank was terminated in April 2022.


Investigations eventually led to simultaneous raids on luxury residential areas in Singapore on August 15, 2023, involving more than 400 police officers.


Ten foreigners were arrested and about $3 billion in cash and assets, including jewelry, watches, cars and bottles of alcohol, were seized or banning removal orders were issued.


The nine men and one woman were ultimately convicted. They agreed to forfeit more than $900 million in cash and assets as part of their plea deals.


The remaining amount was traced to 17 other suspects who fled Singapore during the investigation.


On November 18, authorities said about $1.85 billion in assets belonging to 15 of the 17 suspects who had evaded authorities had been turned over to the state.


All fifteen suspects are also not allowed to return to Singapore.


The 15 are: Su Yongcan, Wang Huoqiang, Su Fuxiang, Su Binghai, Wang Bingang, Su Shuiming, Su Shuijun, Ke Wendi, Wang Shuiting, Chen Zhiqiang, Liu Jiarong, Chen Peiyong, Zhao Dongying, Chen Mulin and Hu Chengmei.


Singaporean Liew Yik Kit, 41, the personal driver of Cambodian national Su Binghai, will appear in court on December 12.


He faces two charges: one for lying to police and one for obstruction of justice.


The investigation into the two other fugitive suspects is still ongoing.


The assets of the couple, identified as Xu Haika and Xu Hainan, worth approximately $144.9 million, have been seized or subject to removal orders.



Sitemap of xcovlypiqe.omarralno.online

Cannabis News RSS Feeds: Weedrss.com

1000+ unique media and news posts every 24 hours…

Published 2 hours ago
Published 7 hours ago
Published 13 hours ago
Published 16 hours ago
Published 17 hours ago
Published 17 hours ago
Published 20 hours ago
Published 21 hours ago
Published 21 hours ago
Published 21 hours ago
Published 22 hours ago