Two Chinese bankers charged in money laundering case in Singapore

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Two former bank employees, both Chinese nationals, were charged in Singapore on Thursday in connection with the city-state's largest money laundering case, police said.

In large-scale police operations that began in August last year, assets worth more than 3 billion Singapore dollars (2.3 billion US dollars) were seized, including luxury properties, luxury cars and gold bars.

Ten foreign nationals were arrested – members of a group suspected of laundering proceeds from criminal activities conducted abroad, including fraud and online gambling.

They were subsequently convicted and deported after serving their prison sentences.

They all came from China, but most had passports from Cambodia, Turkey, Cyprus and Vanuatu.

On Thursday, charges were brought in a district court against two former bankers suspected of having helped the convicted men.

Liu Kai, 35, formerly of the bank Julius Bär & Co, is accused of helping one of the convicts submit false Chinese tax documents in order to open an account in Switzerland, according to the indictment.

Ten charges were brought against 26-year-old Wang Qiming, a former employee of Citibank Singapore Ltd., including forgery for the purpose of bank fraud and money laundering by one of the convicted persons.

Liew Yik Kit, 41, a Singaporean who acted as a fugitive suspect's personal driver, was also charged on Thursday with lying to police and obstructing justice.

“We take money laundering from criminal activities through our financial system very seriously,” says David Chew, director of the Commercial Affairs Division of the Singapore Police Force, an agency that investigates economic crimes.

“Those who help their clients evade their financial institutions' due diligence procedures or falsify documents to conceal the true nature of their assets must be severely punished under our laws,” he said in a statement.

mba/fox