First Singaporean charged in S$3B money laundering case for aiding fugitive

SINGAPORE: Liew Yik Kit, 41, has become the first Singaporean charged in court for his alleged connection to a fugitive involved in a S$3 billion money laundering case.

Liew served as the personal driver for Chinese national Su Binghai, who fled during the landmark case investigation and is now wanted for his alleged involvement in money laundering offences.

On Thursday (15 August), Liew was charged with two counts of allegedly lying to the police by claiming that his former employer had not left any valuables in his possession.

In reality, Liew was in possession of four luxury cars belonging to the businessman: a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Ferrari F8 Spider, and a Ferrari Stradale.

Liew is accused of subsequently disposing of these four cars at a multi-storey carpark at Blk 20 Upper Boon Keng Road between September 11, 2023, and October 5, 2023.

This alleged act prevented the police from seizing the vehicles, thereby obstructing the course of justice.

Company records reveal that Liew was the authorized representative of a car rental company, Quality Limo Services, which has since had its status canceled.

Liew, who has not yet engaged a lawyer, requested more time from the court to consider his plea and seek legal advice. He was granted bail set at S$15,000.

On the same day, two Chinese nationals, former relationship managers at banks, were also charged. They convicted criminals Su Baolin, Vang Shuiming, and Lin Baoying as clients.

These three are among the ten Fujian-origin foreigners convicted and jailed for laundering illicit funds and other offences.

Liu Kai, 35, a former relationship manager at Swiss private bank Julius Baer, was charged with abetting one of the convicted individuals by using a forged document.

Liu faces a charge of assisting Lin, the only woman convicted in the case, in submitting a forged tax document in November 2020.

According to the police, Liu allegedly received various versions of the forged tax document from Lin before submitting the final version to the bank as a supporting document to facilitate the opening of a bank account in Switzerland.

Wang Qiming, 26, a former relationship manager at Citibank whose clients included Su and Vang, was handed 10 charges.

According to charge sheets, in December 2020, Wang allegedly aided Su Baolin in creating a false loan agreement to deceive Standard Chartered Bank regarding the source of a deposit made into Su’s account.

Wang is also accused of possessing $481,678 in cash, collected on behalf of Su Baolin on December 15, 2020, for which he could not satisfactorily explain the origin. He was charged with laundering this amount.

Between April 19 and April 25, 2021, Wang allegedly forged a loan document to deceive Citibank about the source of funds belonging to Vang Shuiming, thereby facilitating the deposit of $999,980 into Vang’s account.

Wang faces an additional charge of obstructing the course of justice by deleting the WhatsApp application from his mobile phone on October 12, 2021, which could have contained communication records with his bank clients.

The former Citibank employee was further charged with providing false information to an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer on November 15, 2021. He claimed to have lost his passport, although it had actually been surrendered to the Singapore Police Force.

In court affidavits presented during the hearings of the 10 foreign nationals involved, investigators from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) stated that they first investigated Wang over alleged forgery claims before arresting him in 2021.

Wang’s employment with Citibank was terminated in April 2022, according to an earlier statement by the bank.

Liu is represented by a legal team from Lee & Lee, while Wang is represented by lawyers from Anthony Law Corporation. Both men have not yet entered a plea, according to their lawyers.

Liu was granted bail of S$15,000, while Wang’s bail was set at S$25,000.

The cases for Liew and Liu will be heard again on September 12, and Wang’s case is scheduled for September 19.