SINGAPORE – Two days after he was handed seven new charges, Su Wenqiang, one of the 10 accused in Singapore’s largest money laundering case, was given two more charges on Jan 31.
According to one of the new charges, the 31-year-old had allegedly made a false statement to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Controller of Work Passes on Feb 28, 2022, by signing and declaring in an employment pass application that he would be employed as a sales director at Fleur Business Service (FBS) when he had no intention of being hired by the organisation.
The second new charge accuses him of engaging with one “Wen Wen” in February 2022 to make a false statement to the Controller of Work Passes to obtain a work pass for his wife, Su Yanping.
The charge adds that under Su Wenqiang’s alleged instruction, Wen Wen applied for an employment pass on Su Yanping’s behalf and declared that she would be employed as a director of Ju You Family Office (JYFO) even when Su Wenqiang had no plans for Su Yanping to work there.
FBS and JYFO were both registered in 2021 and are described as companies providing management consultancy services, according to Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority records.
Su Wenqiang is not listed on FBS’ business profile, but Su Yanping is listed as having been JYFO’s director since February 2022.
Su Wenqiang, who is originally from China and holds passports from Cambodia and Vanuatu, now faces 11 charges in total.
Eight of his charges fall under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, or CDSA.
One of them alleges he had $601,706 in criminal benefits from operating an unlawful remote gambling service based in the Philippines that targets people in China. His remaining seven CDSA charges accuse him of using around $976,700 in illicit proceeds to pay for a Mercedes-Benz AMG C63S car, bags, jewellery and alcohol, and to pay rent for a landed property and condominium.
He also faces one count of allegedly having a forged marriage certificate from China that stated he had registered his marriage with Su Yanping on May 20, 2018, when no such registration had been made.
The charge adds that he had intended to pass off the certificate as genuine in his dependant’s pass application to MOM.
Su Wenqiang was one of 10 foreigners arrested on Aug 15, 2023, in an anti-money laundering probe that has now seen more than $3 billion in assets seized.
He was denied bail on Nov 2.
According to past court hearings, he came to Singapore in 2021 with his wife and children, aged five and six, as he wanted his children to be educated here.
Senior investigation officer (SIO) Francis Lim of the Criminal Investigation Department said in an affidavit that Su Wenqiang has been wanted by the Chinese authorities for illegal online gambling activities since 2017.
SIO Lim added that Su Wenqiang was recruited to be an executive at a remote lottery business operating from the Philippines and Cambodia. He was paid in cash.
He and his accomplices would communicate via WhatsApp and Telegram group chats to discuss their operations, including moving funds from remote gambling websites across borders, said SIO Lim.
In denying Su Wenqiang bail then, District Judge Brenda Tan said he has no deep roots in Singapore as he is neither a Singapore citizen nor a permanent resident here. His family members are foreigners.
She noted that he was a flight risk, as he has accomplices at large who may help him abscond.
The police have seized two vehicles with an estimated value of at least $584,000 in Su Yanping’s name and more than $2 million parked in her bank account.
Su Wenqiang also has substantial wealth overseas, including a house in Xiamen worth around $1.9 million that is registered to Su Yanping.
He will return to court for a pre-trial conference on Feb 1.
