Money-laundering accused says gambling service he was linked to in the Philippines was ‘authorised’
INVESTIGATIONS have revealed that Su Wenqiang, one of the 10 suspects in the S$2.8 billion money-laundering case, was involved in a remote gambling service in the Philippines, but he claims that the activities were sanctioned by the authorities.
At a court hearing on Thursday (Nov 2) to hear an application for bail, his defence counsel Sameer Amir Melber said: “We have been instructed by our client that all gambling services which may have been provided were authorised by the Philippine authorities.”
Su, 31, is part of a group of foreign nationals who were arrested on Aug 15 in an island-wide anti-money laundering blitz. He has been in remand since, and was seeking bail on Thursday.
The Cambodian national faces two counts of money laundering. The first was for possessing S$601,706 in cash, which – in whole or in part – were allegedly proceeds from criminal conduct. He is also said to have paid S$500,000, allegedly benefits of criminal conduct, for a Mercedes-Benz.
On Thursday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Edwin Soh argued that Su’s application for bail should be rejected.
Soh said that Su is wanted by the Chinese authorities on “significant suspicion of involvement in crime”, and that he was on the run following the Chinese authorities’ putting out a wanted notice on him.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
“The accused’s past conduct shows he is adept at evading the law. He possesses multiple passports from China and Vanuatu, and has the means of obtaining multiple passports, even if his current passport is seized,” said the DPP.
The court also heard that Su is linked to four other individuals who are not in Singapore.
An affidavit filed in September by Francis Lim, a senior investigation officer from the Singapore Police Force, said these four individuals were wanted by the police and were not in Singapore on the day of the raid.
Lim said that, based on the mobile phones seized from the accused, Su and his accomplices discussed the operations of their remote gambling websites through WhatsApp and Telegram group chats. They also discussed the transnational movement of funds.
To this, Su’s defence said it was a baseless assertion that these “alleged accomplices” could assist him in absconding.
Sameer said: “Those individuals are simply not in Singapore. They did not escape custody or evade arrest.”
In a second affidavit filed on Oct 10, Lim said that Su had admitted to the Singapore police that he knew what he was doing was illegal, and that was why he was wanted by the Chinese authorities.
Lim added that Su’s claims that the gambling service in the Philippines was licensed by the authorities was a “bare assertion”.
“If it was truly licensed, the accused should have no problems producing the licence... However, he did not exhibit any licence to his affidavit, nor did he produce the same during investigations.”
As conditions to be granted bail, Su had offered to be subjected to electronic tagging, and had proposed that the bail sum and number of sureties standing for him be increased.
District Judge Brenda Tan denied his request for bail, describing him as a high flight risk, and because there was evidence before the court that he was a fugitive from China.
She said: “He holds three passports issued by Cambodia, China and Vanuatu. He did not dispute he was able to obtain these passports from Cambodia and Vanuatu with ease, even though he had not visited those countries prior.”
She added that Su “clearly had no deep roots in or strong connection to Singapore” despite having two children studying in the Republic. Tan noted that Su had moved to Singapore only in 2021, and that both his parents were still in China.
The judge also said: “The fact that he owns substantial assets and has a house in China worth S$1.9 million shows that he has the wealth and the resources to relocate with his family to another country.
“Therefore, he is a high flight risk. His high flight risk is real, not precluding his proposed mitigating factors of electronic tagging, increased sureties and increased quantum (of bail).”
DPP Soh added that investigations into Su were not complete, and there may be other charges tendered under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.
Su returns to court for a pre-trial conference on Dec 14.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
