Lessons from S$3b money laundering case will strengthen Singapore’s approach to tackling threat: PM Wong
PM Lawrence Wong noted that under Singapore’s two-year presidency of the global Financial Action Task Force, international cooperation, transparency of entities and sharing of information has improved.

Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary Meeting at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre on Jun 26, 2024. (Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information)
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SINGAPORE: The experience and lessons gleaned by the Singapore authorities from its handling of the recent S$3 billion money laundering case “will be used to strengthen our regulations and enforcement”, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday (Jun 26).
In his first comments on the case since it concluded, Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister, said: “Our approach has enabled us to take quick and strong enforcement action against criminals who try to use Singapore to launder their illicit funds.”
He was speaking at the opening of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary Meeting, held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre.
Singapore currently holds the presidency at the 40-member global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog. Its two-year term concludes at the end of this month, after which it will hand over to Mexico.
Money laundering has been thrust into the spotlight in Singapore after the S$3 billion (US$2.21 billion) case, which involved 10 foreigners and assets such as hard cash, luxury properties, branded goods, cryptocurrency and alcohol.
“As an international financial and business hub, we recognise that we face greater money laundering and terrorism financing risks. But we are determined to do what is needed to respond to these risks and safeguard our reputation as a trusted financial centre,” Mr Wong told delegates.
He said that the effort by enforcement agencies in August last year – which involved simultaneous raids on multiple locations across Singapore, including Good Class Bungalows and condominiums – was “one of the largest anti-money laundering operations in the world”.
He noted that the authorities carried out extensive investigations and seized the assets after picking up signs of illegal activities.
“Ten suspects have since been convicted within a year of their arrest. Around S$940 million of their assets have been forfeited to the State, which is more than 90 per cent of what we seized from them. Investigations are ongoing against the 17 other suspects who are currently overseas,” said Mr Wong.
SINGAPORE FULLY COMMITTED
Mr Wong reiterated Singapore’s full commitment to tackling the scourge of money laundering.
“Singapore takes a strong approach against financial crime. But zero tolerance does not mean zero occurrence. Even the most stringent anti-money laundering regimes can be circumvented by determined criminals who will continuously search for gaps to exploit,” he said.
“It is also important that our measures are not over-zealous and do not unnecessarily stifle legitimate activities and investments.”
As such, Singapore adopts a risk-based approach, focusing on identifying the latest financial trends and developments that can be exploited by criminals, and developing tools and legal frameworks to detect suspicious individuals and activities early, said Mr Wong.
Last week, Singapore released its national risk assessment on money laundering, 10 years after the previous one.
On Wednesday, the National Asset Recovery Strategy was published.
The document “will set out how we will deprive criminals of their illicit funds and assets, remove the financial incentives for criminals to launder their illicit proceeds in Singapore, and return these assets to victims”, said Mr Wong.
He noted that under the Singapore presidency, the FATF has boosted international cooperation in the area, such as by requiring member countries to recognise and enforce each other’s court orders on the confiscation of assets.
It has also made legal entities that could potentially be used to hide criminal activity, more transparent. The task force now requires the disclosure of additional information that lets law enforcement agencies better identify the real owners behind such entities, noted Mr Wong.
The FATF has also fostered information sharing between law enforcement agencies and private financial institutions, he added.
“It is early days in this drive to enhance global asset recovery. The latest figures from INTERPOL show that recovery rate from illicit funds have improved from less than 1 per cent a decade ago, to about 3 per cent in 2024,” said Mr Wong.
“3 per cent is still low. We need to do better. But at least we are moving in the right direction, and we can aim for even higher recovery rates in the years to come.”

RECOVERING ASSETS
“We have made asset recovery a priority in our national anti-money laundering regime,” Mr Wong told delegates.
Singapore’s approach to recovering assets is multi-faceted, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint press release on Wednesday.
It focuses on detecting suspicious and criminal activities, depriving criminals of their proceeds through prompt seizure, delivering the maximum restitution to victims, and deterring the use of Singapore to hide or move illicit assets, they said.
“We have strengthened partnerships with our international counterparts, and community and private sector stakeholders, in asset recovery and loss prevention efforts,” said the agencies.
Mr Wong highlighted efforts by the Singapore Police Force in setting up an Anti-Scam Centre, with officers from law enforcement agencies, the major banks, and online ecommerce platforms co-located and working together in real-time to trace suspicious fund flows and freeze illicit monies.
One outcome of the effort is that over 16,700 SMS alerts have been sent to bank customers from March to April this year, warning over 12,500 people who were in the process of being scammed, said the agencies.
This disrupted more than 3,000 scams and averted losses of over S$100 million, they said.
Earlier this year, MAS also launched a platform for private financial institutions to securely share information on customers that exhibit red flags, which lets them better detect criminal networks and activities said Mr Wong.
NEW CHALLENGES EMERGING
Despite ongoing efforts, new threats in this space will continue emerging, and efforts to tackle such crimes will have to continue, said Mr Wong.
“While we have made progress, criminals are always looking for opportunities and loopholes to exploit. The fight against financial crime is an ongoing battle, and we must stay vigilant and continually evolve to tackle new threats,” he said.
He cited the rise of digital transactions and the advent of virtual assets as factors which have helped criminals move and hide their illicit proceeds more easily.
“Globally, money laundering activities are increasingly sophisticated, involving swift movements of large sums of illicit funds across jurisdictions, and affecting a significant number of victims,” said the agencies in their joint release.
A sizeable proportion of money laundering cases in Singapore involve foreign crime syndicates who employ complex methods, such as using digital technologies, to conceal the cross-border movement of their ill-gotten gains, they said.
Between January 2019 and June this year, Singapore seized S$6 billion linked to criminal and money laundering activities. So far, S$416 million have been returned to victims and S$1 billion have been forfeited to the State, said the agencies.
“The large bulk of the remainder is linked to still ongoing investigations or court proceedings,” they explained.