Down the garden path
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FOLLOWING the trail of the Fujian money laundering syndicate took us down some interesting paths. We dived into the data and unearthed over 230 residential properties sold to buyers of certain nationalities from high-risk countries since 2016. That’s double the 105 properties seized so far by the police. The deals BT found were done by holders of passports from the same countries as those arrested earlier in August - Cambodia, Cyprus, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Turkey and Vanuatu.
Jessie Lim also had a chat with real estate agents who have dealt with extraordinarily wealthy Chinese clients. Are their Bentleys, Bitcoin and bungalow karaoke signs of crazy rich Asians or red flags?
As Leslie Yee writes, it’s not surprising that people who have pocketed huge gains from illicit activities choose to park funds here. Singapore is a major financial hub and a thoroughly cosmopolitan city, known for its ease of doing business and easy connectivity to many parts of the world. The law enforcement blitz this month shows Singapore taking a stand to guard its golden reputation.
