Ong Ye Kung, Chee Hong Tat don’t know Fujian gang member Su Haijin personally: Statement
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Pictures showing ministers Ong Ye Kung and Chee Hong Tat at dinners where Fujian gang member Su Haijin was also present have been circulated online.
PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM TOXICSTATENARRATIVEINSG/INSTAGRAM
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SINGAPORE – Ministers Ong Ye Kung and Chee Hong Tat do not know convicted money launderer Su Haijin personally and do not have any contact with him.
In a joint press statement by the ministers’ press secretaries on May 6, it was stated that pictures showing both of them at dinners where Fujian gang member Su was present have been circulated online.
The two ministers also made separate Facebook posts on the morning of May 6, adding that their press secretaries issued the statement to clarify the matter.
The photos were posted on Instagram on May 4 and 5 by former Reform Party chairman Charles Yeo.
The ministers’ press secretaries’ statement said: “As ministers, they meet a diverse range of people at various events and gatherings. They attended the dinners at the invitation of a friend, and Su happened to be there.
“Minister Ong recalls that months later, at another dinner, Su happened to be there too.”
It added that the ministers do not know Su personally and “have had no contact or dealings with him before or since these occasions”.
Su, a Cypriot national, faced 14 charges and was sentenced to 14 months in jail on April 4, 2024. He was deported to Cambodia on May 28 of the same year
He was one of the 10 people convicted in a $3 billion money laundering case
He was arrested at a 32,000 sq ft house at Ewart Park in Bukit Timah on Aug 15, 2023, after jumping from the second-floor balcony of the good class bungalow during a police raid.
More than 90 per cent of his assets – worth over $165 million – were seized. They included 13 properties worth about $91 million, $45 million of money in his bank accounts, and 69 Bearbrick collectible toy figurines, said Su’s defence lawyer, Mr Julian Tay.
Additionally, seven vehicles worth more than $3.3 million, nine luxury watches worth almost $19 million, and three country club memberships worth over $1 million were also forfeited.
During his sentencing, Su admitted to one charge of resisting arrest and two money laundering charges – the latter of which involved possessing more than $1.4 million, suspected to be criminal benefits, in Yihao Cyber Technologies’ DBS Bank and UOB accounts.
He was also handed an additional charge of money laundering in September 2023
Another nine people were arrested alongside Su, including Chinese nationals Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying, who were both sentenced to 15 months in jail; Cambodian nationals Chen Qingyuan, Su Baolin and Su Wenqiang, who were sentenced to 15, 14 and 13 months’ jail, respectively; Vanuatu national Su Jianfeng, who was sentenced to 17 months in jail; and Turkish national Vang Shuiming, who received a sentence of 13 months and six weeks’ jail.
The PAP Government upholds a high standard of integrity, the statement said, and the ministers are determined to uphold this, even though in the course of their work, they may inadvertently come into contact with people who are later established to be unsavoury.
“Maintaining this standard is non-negotiable,” it said.
