IN her ministerial statement earlier this week, Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo noted that the government has taken “serious enforcement” against money laundering in Singapore.

Cases she mentioned included the illicit flows of funds from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal and the involvement of Singapore’s banks in the Wirecard affair.

What other noteworthy money laundering cases have been unearthed over the years? And how much was involved?

1. 1Malaysia Development Berhad: US$4.5 billion

Malaysia’s 1MDB fund was meant to help develop the country’s economy.

Court cases in several countries and against various parties have since found that money was misappropriated from the fund and laundered through several financial systems – including Singapore’s.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) fined eight banks a total of almost S$30 million for violating anti-money laundering requirements after two years of investigations.

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MAS also issued lifetime prohibition orders against Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, two former Goldman Sachs bankers, for their roles in the scandal.

2. Wirecard: US$2.1 billion

In June 2020, the payments company reported it was missing nearly two billion euros (S$2.9 billion) from its accounts.

Investigations have since uncovered forged contracts, inflated earnings and falsified client lists. Some of the money siphoned out of Wirecard passed through Singapore’s banks.

In June this year, MAS fined DBS, OCBC, Swiss Life (Singapore), and Citibank’s Singapore branch a total of S$3.8 million for breaches of anti-money laundering requirements.

Singaporean businessman Henry Yeo was found to have helped with laundering S$123,070 that was stolen from Wirecard Asia, keeping a commission and passing the rest on in cash to a conspiring Wirecard employee, James Aga Wardhana.

Both have been sentenced to jail.

3. Mexican drug cartels and Wachovia Bank: US$380 billion

Once one of the largest banks in the United States, Wachovia agreed to a US$160 million settlement for its role in the laundering of proceeds from illegal narcotics sales.

The bank was also sanctioned for its failure to apply anti-money laundering restrictions, which led to it processing US$378.4 billion from Mexico into the US banking system.

Investigations by US law enforcement authorities found that some of the money laundered through Wachovia was spent on buying aircraft, which were then used for drug trafficking.

4. Danske Bank’s Estonia branch: US$229 billion

Danish bank Danske acquired Sampo Bank, including the latter’s Estonian subsidiary, in 2007.

Months after the acquisition, the Estonian operation was flagged by Russia’s central bank and Estonia’s finance minister for handling suspiciously large transactions.

No action appears to have been taken, however, until an internal audit in 2018.

Danske Bank eventually acknowledged that 200 billion euros had been laundered through its Estonian subsidiary between 2007 and 2015.

It agreed in December 2022 to forfeit US$2 billion to settle an investigation by the US Justice Department. It was also fined 3.5 billion krone (S$0.7 billion) by the Danish regulator, and had 1.25 billion krone in profits confiscated.

5. Nauru’s shell banks: US$70 billion

Nauru, an island-nation in the Pacific, has been associated with money laundering for years.

In 1998, Russian criminals reportedly laundered about US$70 billion through an entity in Nauru known as the Nauru Agency Corporation.

At one time, the country was said to have 400 shell banks – half of them created by Russian clients. These banks had no banking records, did not validate the identities of customers and did not ask where any customer money came from.

In 2000, Nauru was identified by the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body, as being non-cooperative in the fight against money laundering.

The country has since passed anti-money laundering laws.

6. Group of 9 in organised crime syndicate captured in Australia: US$10 billion

In February this year, Australian federal police arrested nine people and seized properties, vehicles, bank accounts, cryptocurrency, designer watches, jewellery, and handbags worth at least US$150 million.

The individuals are alleged to be part of a China-Australia money laundering organisation that has moved an estimated US$10 billion worth of assets.

Their operations were reported to have extended from Australia to Asia, the Caribbean, Switzerland and America.

7. Group of 33 money brokers for Italian mafia: US$52.5 million

On Wednesday (Oct 4), Italian police said they had arrested 33 individuals for allegedly laundering over 50 million euros from drug trafficking groups – including the ‘Ndrangheta mafia.

Police also seized around 10 million euros in cash from “money mules”.

Italian police said Chinese import-export clothing and fashion accessory businesses functioned as fronts for these laundering transactions.

8. The Bank of Credit and Commerce International: US$32 million

Founded in 1972 by Pakistani businessman Agha Hasan Abedi in Luxembourg, BCCI grew to operate in over 70 countries.

In 1988, it was charged, alongside nine officials, with conspiring to launder US$32 million in profits from alleged drug sales.

At the time, it was the biggest money-laundering case ever brought in the United States.

BCCI managed to defend itself against the charges, though. It continued to operate until 1991, when it was indicted on fraud charges. The court later ordered the bank to be liquidated.