SINGAPORE – A total of 54 properties, 33 vehicles and 11 country club memberships seized from the $3 billion money laundering case have been liquidated by the Government as of 2024.
Proceeds from the liquidation of these non-cash assets will be subsequently paid into the Consolidated Fund, said Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam in a written reply to a parliamentary question on Feb 26.
About $1.8 million has been paid into the Consolidated Fund as at December 2024, and another $390 million, including the proceeds from liquidation, is pending payment into the fund for financial year 2024.
Mr Shanmugam was responding to a parliamentary question from Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai about the percentage of non-cash assets that has been disposed of and paid into the Consolidated Fund.
Mr Leong also asked about the total value of the seized assets and the total cost incurred by the police to keep these items safe.
So far, about $2.79 billion in assets linked to the case has been surrendered to the Government. Of this amount, $1.54 billion were cash or financial assets while the others consisted of non-cash assets such as properties, vehicles and luxury items.
Mr Shanmugam said the police incurred about $600,000 in the 2023 financial year to maintain the assets.
He added: “This is the latest figure we have, as the police track these expenses on an annual basis.”
In January 2024, The Straits Times reported that 207 properties, 77 vehicles, more than $1.45 billion in bank accounts and more than $76 million in cash of various currencies were confiscated by the Government.
Alongside these assets, thousands of bottles of liquor and wine, cryptocurrency worth more than $38 million, 68 gold bars, 483 luxury bags, 169 branded watches and 580 pieces of jewellery were also seized.
Nine men and one woman were arrested during a blitz operation on Aug 15, 2023, and charged the next day with various offences, including money laundering, forgery and resisting arrest.
All of them were Chinese nationals who held the citizenships of countries like Cambodia, Dominica, Vanuatu and Turkey.
The operation involved more than 400 officers, including those from the Criminal Investigation Department, Commercial Affairs Department, Special Operations Command or riot police, and Police Intelligence Department.
The accused were convicted and jailed for between 13 and 17 months. All 10 were subsequently deported and barred from entering Singapore after completing their jail terms.
Another 17 individuals who were later found to be linked to the case fled Singapore amid the police probe.
In November 2024, the police said they had “dealt with” 15 out of the 17 suspects on the run. They agreed to surrender their assets worth about $1.85 billion and were barred from returning to Singapore.
The police said in November 2024 that investigations into the other two suspects were still ongoing, and their assets worth about $144.9 million remained seized or the subject of prohibition of disposal orders.
- Claudia Tan is a journalist on The Straits Times’ crime and courts beat.
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