(From left) Minister of State for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling, Minister in Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah and Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan at the press conference on Oct 4. SINGAPORE - To deter criminals from laundering money through Singapore’s financial system, unregulated sectors, including dealers of high value goods, will be advised on how to identify red flags in suspicious transactions. These businesses, who are currently considered as unregulated dealers, will also be engaged by relevant agencies on how to refuse to accept large payments in cash for such goods.
These measures to clamp down on money laundering were revealed on Oct 4 in a report by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Anti-Money Laundering. It was set up in November 2023 to look into Singapore’s anti-money laundering framework following the arrests of 10 foreigners in August that year in what became Singapore’s largest money laundering case. It involved over $3 billion in property and assets seized by the authorities.
The nine men and one woman, originally from China, were sentenced to between 13 and 17 months’ jail. Over $940 million worth of their assets were forfeited to the state. They have since been deported and barred from re-entering Singapore.
While measures on regulated entities like banks, corporate service providers (CSPs) and real estate agencies have been tightened, unregulated entities like car dealers will also be advised .
