Defendants in Singapore money laundering scandal use Citi and CIMB

By Low De Wei

(Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc.'s Singapore subsidiary and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd are among the banks hit by a major money laundering case in the city-state involving about 1 billion Singapore dollars ($736 million) in assets.

The two lenders were used in 2020 and 2021 by some of the foreign nationals arrested in raids across the country this week, according to indictments seen by Bloomberg News.

Turkish national Vang Shuiming was charged for allegedly submitting a forged document to Citibank Singapore Ltd., while Cambodian national Su Baolin was charged for falsely claiming to be a company director in a supporting document to the U.S. bank. Meanwhile, two Chinese nationals, Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying, were charged for attempting to defraud CIMB Bank Bhd. in its ownership and sale of a property in Macau.

A Singapore-based Citigroup spokesman declined to comment on questions from Bloomberg News.

Malaysia-based CIMB said in a statement that it “does not comment on individuals, ongoing investigations or legal proceedings” and “is fully committed to strong corporate governance and strict compliance with banking standards, laws and regulations.”

The defendants are in custody and could not be reached for comment.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Wednesday that suspicious money flows, questionable documentation of the origin of assets and other discrepancies had prompted unnamed banks to submit suspicious transaction reports to the authorities. The information from such reports had alerted police to suspicious activities attempted through the country's financial system.

The regulator added that it will take strict action against financial institutions for breaches of anti-money laundering rules. It is also conducting inspections focusing on financial firms engaged in asset management to ensure that strict controls are in place.

— With support from Alfred Cang.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.