Cambodian Man Convicted in Singapore Money Laundering Case

Last year, Singapore authorities cracked down on a huge ring that laundered money acquired through illegal gambling and crime. The police ended up arresting 10 foreign nationals and seizing billions of dollars in assets. Several months later, one of the men involved in the operation has been sentenced.

Su Wenqiang, a Cambodian national, will have to serve over a year in prison for his participation in the money laundering operation. Wenqiang, who assisted with the scam, helped the organization and was involved with an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO). As a result, the 32-year-old was charged with 11 offenses, including forging documents and involvement in money laundering and will have to serve 13 months in jail.

According to reports, the police seized approximately $4.4 million in assets from Wenqiang. These included cash, two vehicles, luxury items, jewelry and expensive liquor.

The Police Seized Billions of Dollars in Assets in the Operation

The original operation involved over 400 police officers who raided dens of the criminals across Singapore.

The 10 people who were arrested, according to earlier reports, were mostly Chinese nationals, although they had passports from the Dominican Republic, Turkey and Cyprus. The operation saw authorities seize a whopping $2 billion in cash and assets such as luxury cars, watches, jewelry, alcohol and real estate.

Some of the seized possessions included some 152 properties, 62 luxury vehicles, 164 luxury watches and a staggering 68 gold bars.

David Chew, director of Singapore’s commercial affairs department, confirmed that the police have seized all the illicit funds the criminals brought in. He warned that the country will continue to actively pursue criminal actors. Chew also vowed to keep Singapore’s financial system clean and work hard to trace, seize and confiscate criminal property brought into the city-state.

Law enforcement, the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office and regulatory agencies will continue to work together to better detect complex money laundering, arrest the criminals, charge them and deprive them of their ill-gotten gains.

David Chew, director of Singapore’s commercial affairs department

Despite the intense efforts to crack down on such criminal activities, the $2 billion money laundering case sparked questions about the stability of the system and scrutiny of the local financial sector.