Singapore’s money laundering accused slapped with 6 new fraud, forgery charges

TURKISH national Vang Shuiming, one of the 10 accused in Singapore’s biggest money-laundering case, was handed six new charges related to fraud and forgery on Wednesday (Mar 27).

Under the fresh charges, he allegedly submitted forged financial statements of two companies – Xiamen Yetian Trading and Xiamen Likanghang Trading – for the years 2017 to 2019 to private bank Julius Baer’s Singapore branch as supporting documentation on Jul 19, 2022.

This brings the total number of charges faced by Vang to 22, up from 16 previously.

Of his prior charges, 11 involved Vang submitting forged financial statements for the years 2015 to 2021 of the same two companies, plus another one – Xiamen Mingxin Guarantee – to brokerage firm UOB Kay Hian.

The other five charges ranged from allegedly possessing S$2.4 million in criminal benefits generated from unlicensed moneylending operations in China, to submitting a forged bank statement to Citibank Singapore.

Vang’s counsel, Wendell Wong of Drew & Napier, requested to District Judge Shawn Ho that he would take up the additional charges separately in chambers.

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He said that “a lot of these issues related to the banks” had already been made known to the prosecution earlier on, but the charges have been “staggered”.

Wong also requested to speak to Vang separately over video link for 10 to 15 minutes, which the district judge granted.

Over S$200 million in assets and S$962,000 in cash were seized from Vang, 43, who was arrested by Singapore police last August. He is said to have financed 10 units at luxury integrated development Canninghill Piers and one unit at Park Nova, another luxury residence.

Both Vang and his brother, Wang Shuiting, are wanted by Chinese authorities for their involvement in illegal online activities.

Vang was denied bail twice by the High Court last year, after being the only one of the 10 accused to appeal for bail through a procedure known as criminal revision. This was in spite of his counsel proposing measures, such as electronic tagging and 24-hour camera surveillance, to the judge to ensure his attendance in court.

The court found Vang to be a flight risk due to his significant overseas wealth of S$35.5 million and multiple passports from countries such as Turkey, China and Vanuatu.

Two of the 10 suspects, Su Wenqiang and Su Haijin, are expected to plead guilty on Apr 2 and 4, respectively.

Vang will return to court on Apr 4 for a pre-trial conference.