Son of accused in money laundering case led police to parents’ room before dad jumped off balcony
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Su Haijin's eldest son led officers to the door of his parents’ bedroom in their Ewart Park home and called for his father to come to the door, which was locked.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
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SINGAPORE – The eldest son of Su Haijin, one of the accused in the $1.8 billion money laundering case
A team of officers had entered Su’s home at Ewart Park in Bukit Timah, where they met his eldest son, at around 6.40am.
He led them to the door of his parents’ bedroom and called for his father, said Mr Thia Yang Shen, a Commercial Affairs Department officer, in his affidavit on Sept 8.
The door was locked and when Su did not respond, officers told him to step out of the room.
Despite warnings that the team would storm in if he failed to comply, Su still did not respond.
The officers stormed the room and did not find him there.
Suspecting Su had jumped off the second-floor balcony, they searched around his home and found him hiding in a drain outside.
Su faces one charge of resisting arrest
In his affidavit to support the prosecution’s application that no bail be granted to the accused, Mr Thia said the circumstances surrounding Su’s arrest were telling.
He said Su’s son had asked his father to come to the door without giving any indication of danger, but the elder Su immediately became unresponsive and chose to make a quick exit.
The 40-year-old fractured his hands and legs after jumping from his balcony.
Said Mr Thia: “Yet, the accused still made considerable effort to descend a flight of steps to exit the premises from a side gate and hid in a drain.”
Su Haijin fractured his hands and legs after jumping from the second-floor balcony of his Bukit Timah home, on Aug 15.
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According to Mr Thia’s affidavit, the police seized or issued prohibition of disposal orders against the assets of Su and his wife Wu Qin
The assets include more than $120 million in properties and over $2.6 million in vehicles.
Su’s family is believed to be moving out of the Ewart Park good class bungalow.
Large boxes and movers have been spotted at the house since Sept 4.
When The Straits Times visited their home on Sept 11, a moving truck was seen taking boxes from the house to Gramercy Park, a condominium in the Orchard area.
Business records of Su show his registered address is a unit at the condo.
In the affidavit, Su also admitted to having 10 properties abroad worth more than $14.2 million. They included one condo in Cambodia, three condos in Cyprus, one property at Oxford Street, London, and five condos in Macau. He also has partial ownership of a yacht named Family which is valued at US$4 million (S$5.45 million).
He is alleged to have made payments for the yacht with Su Baolin, a co-accused in the money laundering case, and two others in 2022.
Su Baolin is a co-accused in the money laundering case.
ST ILLUSTRATION: CEL GULAPA
The court was told the yacht was registered in the name of a fifth individual.
The three unidentified people linked to the vessel had left Singapore either before or soon after investigations started.
Mr Thia said Su Haijin had not been forthcoming about his dealings with Su Baolin in relation to the yacht and other properties, and had come clean only after being confronted by the police.
ST previously reported in August on the luxury yacht,
The yacht, which is not owned by any of the 10 arrested in the money laundering case, was cleared to depart on Aug 19.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
The 38m-long vessel was built in 2020 in Italy, and features four decks made of fibreglass and carbon fibre.
It can carry up to 10 passengers and sails under the flag of the Cook Islands, a nation in the South Pacific.
An online advertisement for a similar yacht in Turkey has an asking price of about €15.6 million (S$23 million).
Previous checks by ST found that the yacht was initially not allowed to leave the marina on Aug 18, but was cleared to depart on Aug 19.
The last tracking information showed that it sailed westwards from Singapore before the tracking device on board was apparently switched off.
The court was told on Wednesday that the vessel had last been traced to Phuket in Thailand.
But according to a vessel finder website, Family left Phuket on Aug 24, and has been anchored in Langkawi, Malaysia, since Aug 25.
When ST contacted Craft Docket, an agent company that manages the vessel, on Wednesday, a representative said the yacht is registered to an individual whose name does not match any of the 10 accused in the money laundering case.
She declined to reveal the name of the individual.
