Third Man Sentenced For Money Laundering Offences In Anti-Money Laundering Probe

On 16 April 2024, Wang Baosen ("Wang"), a 32-year-old Chinese national, was convicted and sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment for two counts of money laundering under Section 55 of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act ("CDSA"). An additional six charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Wang was one of the 10 foreign nationals arrested on 15 August 2023, during a large scale, island-wide raid conducted by Police in relation to its investigations into a group of foreign nationals suspected of laundering the proceeds of their overseas organised crime activities into Singapore. During his arrest, Wang was found in possession of cash and other assets which were proceeds from his criminal conduct.

The Police subsequently seized and prohibited disposal of about S$8 million worth of assets, consisting of cash, one vehicle and one property from Wang, his wife, and her company. The State Court has ordered the full forfeiture of these assets to the State.

Background of the case

Investigations revealed that Wang was involved in unlawful remote gambling activities abroad. Investigations also revealed that Wang used or possessed various sums of monies which were reasonably suspected of being proceeds of these activities. For example, on or about 30 March 2022, Wang used a sum of S$1,476,850 to pay for a property which was purchased under his wife's name. During the material time, Wang was unemployed and did not have any known sources of legitimate income. Wang was unable to account satisfactorily that the sum of money used to pay for the said property was from legitimate sources.

Wang was charged with the following offences:

1. Four counts of money laundering offences under Section 55 of the CDSA;
   
   
2. One count of the use of forged documents under Section 471 punishable under Section 465 of the Penal Code 1871 ("the Penal Code");
   
   
3. One count of furnishing false information on the source of his assets to make false representations under Section 177(1)(a) of the Penal Code; and
   
   
4. Two counts of false declaration under Section 22(1)(d) of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990.

Any person who is convicted for an offence under Section 55 of the CDSA may be punished with a fine of up to S$150,000, or imprisonment for a term of up to 3 years, or both.

The Police take a serious stance against any person who may be involved in money laundering and deception that compromises the integrity of the financial sector. We will continue to take tough enforcement actions against perpetrators, who will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

Related cases

Two of the accused persons arrested during the same raid, Su Wenqiang, a 32-year-old Cambodian national, and Su Haijin, a 41-year-old Cypriot national were convicted and sentenced for various offences earlier this month. The State Court had ordered the forfeiture of 100 per cent (amounting to around S$6 million) and about 95 per cent (amounting to more than S$166 million) of the seized/prohibited assets linked to Su Wenqiang and Su Haijin respectively. Annex A sets out the sentencing outcome of the three accused persons who have been convicted and sentenced so far in relation to this case.

Court proceedings for the remaining seven accused persons related to the case are ongoing. Annex B sets out the offences which they have currently been charged with. Their assets, along with that of other persons linked to the case, will remain seized and prohibited until the State Court has dealt with their cases.

Annex A - Sentencing outcome of 3 accused persons

SN	Name	Sentencing outcome
1	Su Wenqiang	Convicted and sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment for two counts of money laundering under Section 54(1) of the CDSA. 100 per cent forfeiture of seized assets (amounting to around S$6 million) to the State.
2	Su Haijin	Convicted and sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment for one count of resistance to lawful apprehension under Section 225B of the Penal Code and two counts of money laundering under Section 55 of the CDSA. About 95 per cent forfeiture of seized/prohibited assets (amounting to more than S$166 million) to the State.
3	Wang Baosen	Convicted and sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment for two counts of money laundering under Section 55 of the CDSA. 100 per cent forfeiture of seized/prohibited assets (amounting to about S$8 million) to the State.

Annex B - List of current charges against remaining 7 accused persons

SN	Name	Details of offences
1	Cheng Qingyuan (10 charges)	Four counts of Section 54(1)(c) CDSA for offences of money laundering; Two counts of Section 468 Penal Code read with Section 109 of the same act for offences of abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating; Two counts of Section 471 Penal Code punishable under Section 465 read with Section 109 of the same act for offences of abetment of using as genuine forged electronic record; and Two counts of Section 465 Penal Code read with Section 109 of the same act for offences of abetment of forgery.
2	Lin Baoying (3 charges)	Two counts of Section 468 Penal Code for offences of forgery for the purpose of cheating; and One count of Section 204A Penal Code for offence of perverting course of justice.
3	Su Baolin (10 charges)	One count of Section 471 punishable under Section 465 of the Penal Code for offence of using as genuine forged document; One count of Section 468 Penal code read with Section 109 of the same act for offence of abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating; Three counts of Section 424A Penal Code read with Section 109 of the same act for offences of abetment of fraud by false representations; One count of Section 47(1)(c) CDSA for offence of money laundering; One count of Section 14(1)(b) Oaths and Declaration Act for offence of making false statutory declaration; and Three counts of Section 180 Penal Code for offences for refusal to sign statement.
4	Su Jianfeng (6 charges)	Four counts of Section 54(1)(c) CDSA for offences of money laundering; and Two counts of Section 468 Penal Code for offences of forgery for the purpose of cheating.
5	Wang Dehai (2 charges)	One count of Section 54(1)(c) CDSA and one count of Section 47(1)(b) CDSA for offences of money laundering.
6	Vang Shuiming (22 charges)	Four counts of Section 54(1)(c) CDSA for offences of money laundering; and 18 counts of Section 471 punishable under Section 465 of the Penal Code for offences of using as genuine forged documents.
7	Zhang Ruijin (3 charges)	3 counts of Section 468 Penal Code for offences of forgery for the purpose of cheating.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
16 April 2024 @ 4:05 PM