Su Jianfeng in S$3B money laundering case pleads guilty, agrees to forfeit S$178.9M in assets

SINGAPORE: Su Jianfeng, one of the accused in the S$3 billion money laundering case, was convicted of money laundering and forgery on Thursday (6 June). He agreed to forfeit S$178.9 million of his seized assets to the state.

Su, a Vanuatu national originally from Fujian, China, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes Act and one count of forgery.

In addition to these charges, Su faces another 12 charges, including three counts of money laundering, seven counts of forgery, and two charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, which were taken into consideration by the judge for sentencing on 10 June.

Su, aged 35, is the ninth person to be convicted among the 10 foreigners arrested in August 2023 during islandwide raids at luxury homes led by the Commercial Affairs Department.

His forfeited assets represent 95.5 per cent of the total assets seized from him and his wife, Chen Qiuyan. Authorities seized assets totalling around S$187 million from the couple, including cash, real estate, cryptocurrency, and cars.

Chen Qiuyan holds director positions in two companies: Qingfeng Assets and Qingfeng Investment.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Teo revealed that around 2013, a Taiwanese man introduced Su to illegal online gambling operations. Su agreed to participate and was involved in operating illegal online gambling websites in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Manila, Philippines, targeting mainly Chinese gamblers.

Su moved to Singapore with his family between 2019 and 2020 to enroll his children in schools there.

During an arrest operation on 15 August last year, authorities found S$559,030 in cash in a safe at Su’s residence, all of which were proceeds from illegal online gambling.

Regarding his forgery charge, DPP Teo stated that Su forged a property sale contract in March 2021 when Maybank Singapore asked him to explain the source of two deposits worth S$1,029,970 and S$969,970. The forged document claimed he had sold a property in Burj Khalifa, Dubai.

DPP Edwin Soh sought a 17 to 18-month jail term, noting that Su laundered a total of S$17.5 million in Singapore, which is “no small sum.”

He argued that Su should not receive the full 30 per cent sentencing discount for pleading guilty, as he only did so on May 24 after observing the sentences given to the other eight offenders.

DPP Soh remarked, “The accused person did not plead guilty at the earliest opportunity as a genuine show of remorse.”

Su’s defence counsel N Sreenivasan then sought a 14 to 15-month jail term for his client, highlighting that Su forfeited more than 10 times the amount involved in his eight money laundering charges.

He also noted that Su pleaded guilty within three weeks of receiving six forgery charges on 16 May.

The sentencing will be delivered next Monday after the judge considers both the prosecution and defence arguments presented in court.

Earlier, eight accused in the S$3B case:  Su Wenqiang, Su Haijin, Wang Baosen, Su Baolin,  Zhang Ruijin, Vang Shuiming, Chen Qingyuan, and Lin Baoying already pleaded guilty earlier, all of whom received jail sentences ranging from 13 to 15 months for their involvement in money laundering activities.

They have forfeited more than S$722.3 million in assets to Singapore to date.

Wang Dehai, a Cypriot national, is the last accused in the case and is expected to plead guilty on Friday.

Su Wenqiang and Wang Baoshen were deported to Cambodia by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority on 6 May.

Cambodian national Su Baolin and Cypriot national Su Haijin were deported to Cambodia on 25 and 28 May, respectively. Turkish national Vang was deported to Japan last Saturday (1 June). ICA revealed that all five individuals are barred from re-entering Singapore.

Su’s extensive property investment in Dubai

Last month, a data leak uncovered by the investigative journalism group, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Straits Times, suggests that Su Jianfeng may have acted as the middleman facilitating the purchase of properties in Dubai for those involved in the case, primarily between 2020 and 2022.

According to the OCCRP report, Su, dDespite a 2015 Chinese arrest warrant for alleged illegal gambling, has been revealed as the owner of Fidu Properties DMCC, a Dubai-based property firm marketing properties primarily to buyers from China.

This firm is part of Fidu Property Real Estate Brokerage, a top partner for Dubai’s largest property developer, Emaar Properties PJSC, which is part-owned by Dubai’s ruler.

The report further discloses that Su, Lin Baoying, and Su Haijin purportedly own over $30 million worth of real estate in Dubai, including properties developed by Emaar and brokered by Fidu.