SU WENQIANG

Su Wenqiang, a 31-year-old Cambodian, was given a new charge, bringing his total number of charges to two.

His fresh charge states that he bought a Mercedes Benz AMG C63S around Jan 28, 2022, using S$500,000 that were proceeds from an illegal remote gambling service based in the Philippines for users in China.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Gan Ee Kiat said Su was arrested as part of a police anti-money-laundering operation “of unprecedented size and scope in Singapore”.

“The accused is being investigated for money laundering and forgery offences,” said Mr Gan. “He has considerable amounts of wealth in Singapore, with a combined value of at least S$2.6 million, including S$2 million in Singapore bank accounts.”

“We suspect that such wealth is tainted, and fund-tracing by CAD (Commercial Affairs Department) remains in progress.”

Mr Gan said that Su has “significant wealth overseas”, apart from his assets in Singapore. For example, he has a house overseas that is worth about S$2 million, registered in his wife’s name.

Mr Gan said investigations have unearthed potential links between Su and other people in respect of criminal activities in foreign jurisdictions, comprising his co-accused and individuals who are on the run.

Investigations are revealing “multiple potential leads and investigative factors, which show the increasing scale and developing complexity of this case”, said Mr Gan.

Su’s lawyer, Mr Manoj Prakash Nandwani, said his client’s wife and two young children were in Singapore, with the children enrolled in an international school here.

Based on the charge, the lawyer said it “appears that the prosecution is unsure if the offence even occurred in Singapore, given the tentative language used”.

He said his preliminary instructions from his client are that he did not engage in using remote communications in any form of remote gambling in Singapore.

“I am told that, your honour, if there was any remote gambling, that activity has been restricted to overseas, not Singapore,” said the lawyer, asking for bail to be granted.

In response, Mr Gan said “this is a money-laundering offence”.

“The predicate offence can be offences committed in Singapore or overseas, as long as the requirements in the CDSA (Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act) are satisfied,” he said.

He asked for Su to be remanded, so that “CAD can be assisted in the herculean task before them”.

The rest of the 10 accused in the case are set to appear in court via video-link on Wednesday.