More than $1 billion worth of luxury properties, cars, gold and luxury goods seized. Ten foreigners arrested in connection with the crime. Business Times journalist Jessie Lim sensed this was a case which would make headlines for months, when the police first released the information about Singapore’s biggest money laundering case in August 2023.
Despite having Chinese names, some of the arrested individuals were of Cambodian and Cypriot nationalities, which raised “big red flags” in her head that a well-organised criminal operation was in play, said Ms Lim, 26.
The property reporter went to work, following the case closely and devoting her weekends to unearthing more details for many reports.
The assets seized from the 10 foreigners have swelled to more than $3 billion worth, and the authorities have since taken action to tighten anti-money laundering laws. Her stories about the case garnered at least 110,000 page views collectively.
Ms Lim’s efforts and ability to see a single case from numerous angles helped win her the Young Journalist of the Year award at SPH Media’s annual English, Malay and Tamil Media Group (EMTM) awards ceremony on March 18.
Ms Lim joined The Business Times’ property team in 2023 after three years at The Straits Times covering court and crime, consumer and breaking news.
She said she was happy to have contributed to public awareness about money laundering. “The most difficult aspect was that this was unprecedented. Singapore has never had such a large-scale money laundering crackdown. So a lot of the new facts that we unearthed, there were no similar or previous cases we could refer to,” she said.
Altogether, 15 awards were presented – 12 for excellence and the three top awards of Young Journalist of the Year, Journalist of the Year, and Story of the Year.
The Straits Times took home three Awards for Excellence – for a multimedia graphic on Asian Games gold medallist Shanti Pereira, a podcast series on true crimes in Asia and a commentary on the state of football in Singapore.
Journalist of the Year also went to a Business Times reporter – environmental, social and governance correspondent Wong Pei Ting, 34.
This was not the first award for Ms Wong, who bagged Story of the Year in 2023 for her report on the trend of top university students in Singapore choosing courses in popular fields such as data science and environmental sustainability.
Ms Wong said the Journalist of the Year award felt more “personal”.
“I think there were many times when all of us would have thought that maybe we don’t have a future in journalism,” she said, recounting how she had to rely on freelance writing and design jobs before becoming a full-time journalist in 2015.
“Winning this, it’s validation for the struggles that I’ve had for the past 10 years.”
The Business Times is Singapore’s only financial daily.
BT editor Chen Huifen said both Ms Lim and Ms Wong are hardworking, resourceful and committed to the mission of journalism.
But she added: “While we celebrate their wins, we want to also pay tribute to others who helped to make it possible for our content and products to reach our audiences: such as our editors, sub-editors, and our visual, social media, audience, tech, video, podcast and production teams.”
Story of the Year went to Mr Muhaimin Suzaini, 28, and Mr Izwandi Azman, 31, from Berita Harian (BH) for their reporting on how some Muslim pilgrims were travelling to Mecca independently, and bypassing travel agents.
The story resonated beyond Singapore, with the Indonesian Parliament engaging in debate on the matter, and subsequently passing a law on independent mini-pilgrimages from Indonesia.
“The story’s impact reached far beyond the local scene, prompting legislative changes in neighbouring countries and reshaping the landscape of umrah services worldwide,” said the Malay-language paper’s news editor, Mr Muhammad Nazri Hadi Saparin.
Mr Muhaimin, who has been a journalist with BH for more than a year, said: “We feel very honoured to win this award. We honestly did not expect it at all, but we would like to thank our supervisors and colleagues for their constant guidance and support. This award is not just for us, but also for the entire Berita Harian newsroom.”
The judging panel for the awards comprised Ms Lydia Lim, dean of SPH Media Academy, Ms Tan Leng Tuan, head of young audience at SPH Media’s Chinese Media Group, Mr Alan John, director of the Asia Journalism Fellowship, Ms Caroline Wong, director of communications at JTC Corporation, and Dr Natalie Pang, who is associate professor and deputy head of the communications and new media department at the National University of Singapore.
