S’pore gov’t to strengthen anti-money laundering regime following recent S$2.8B scandal

In August 2023, Singapore saw one of the biggest money laundering cases, where 10 foreigners were arrested resulting from police raids of multiple locations islandwide and over S$2.8 billion worth of assets were seized.

In a parliament session yesterday (October 3), several ministers delivered ministerial statements in response to questions about the case — these include statements from the Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Board Member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Alvin Tan, and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah.

Zero-tolerance approach to money laundering

In a ministerial statement, Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo said that Singapore has a robust system in place to deter and tackle money laundering and other illegal financial flows, where the government acts decisively and takes swift action towards wrongdoings.

From 2020 to 2022, at least 240 people were convicted of money laundering offences and 17 financial institutions were also indicted for breaching the anti-money laundering requirements set by the Money Authority of Singapore (MAS) in the past five years.

In this specific case, authorities were first alerted in 2021 and an extensive probe was done in 2022 with close coordination with several agencies. According to Minister Teo, this has strengthened Singapore’s reputation as a dynamic, transparent and trusted financial centre with a strong rule of law.

She stressed that this will not be the last money laundering case Singapore has to deal with as criminals will constantly find new and sophisticated ways to evade the law.

As part of Singapore’s efforts to ensure the robustness of their anti-money laundering regime, an Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by Minister Indranee will review the system to analyse how the structures and capabilities can be strengthened.

Singapore will continue to welcome legitimate investors and businessmen, however, the government will act firmly against those who breaks Singapore’s laws.

Featured Image Credit: EFA