Singapore has been on high alert for financial crimes since a high-profile money-laundering case dating back to 2023. On 30 October, the government published its National Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Strategy, a “risk-based” plan to combat the growing threat.
In 2023, the republic was shaken by the scandal that involved S$3 billion (£1.762 billion/€2 billion/$2.3 billion) in dirty money. Police arrested 10 Chinese nationals who lived in luxury in Singapore but held multiple international passports. They seized 152 properties, 62 vehicles and other assets, including jewellery, designer goods, alcohol, cryptocurrency and cash.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), some of the accused laundered money through illegal gambling sites, which spiked in popularity during Covid-19 shutdowns.
In June, the last of the 10 suspects was convicted and sentenced. Despite the gravity of the crimes and the impact on Singapore’s global reputation, the jail terms for the group were relatively modest, from 13 to 17 months. Seventeen suspects are still on the run.
Cyber-fraud on the rise
To combat similar cases arises, the new National AML Strategy is built on three pillars: prevention, detection and enforcement.
In its risk assessment for money laundering, the MHA noted “a high number of ML cases arising from foreign fraud, particularly cyber-enabled fraud.” Other threats originate from “foreign organised crime, and in particular illegal online gambling.”
The MHA also published its risk assessment for proliferation financing (PF) to “update and deepen” its understanding of the danger. It acknowledged that Singapore’s status as an international financial centre and key trading and shipping hub makes it “susceptible to the risks of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”
Banks set auditing standards
In related news, last month the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) published a “best practice paper” on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.
According to The Edge Singapore, the paper was produced in association with the Anti-Money Laundering Audit Peer Group (AAPG). The ABS said data analytics are a pivotal tool in the identification of high-risk clients and business segments.
Loo Siew Yee of the Monetary Authority of Singapore added that a thorough auditing system “undergirds financial institutions’ controls against money laundering and terrorism financing.”
Casinos on the front lines
Casinos have also been empowered to help detect financial crime. In August, an amendment to the Casino Control Act of 2006 freed Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands to share data on patrons without their consent to detect patterns of criminal activity more quickly.
The amendment also lowered the thresholds for customer due diligence (CDD) checks. In the past, those checks were triggered by single cash transactions of S$10,000 or deposits of S$5,000. The threshold was lowered to S$4,000 for both cash transactions and deposits.