$2.8b money laundering case: Accused proposes 24-hour surveillance in latest bid to be released on bail

SINGAPORE - Vang Shuiming, one of the 10 foreigners charged in Singapore's largest money laundering probe, has proposed to be placed on 24-hour surveillance in his latest bid to be released on bail.

The Turkish national was in the High Court on Thursday (Oct 12), the second time the 42-year-old has appealed for bail through a procedure known as criminal revision.

He is the only one out of the 10 accused people to have done so.

Vang, who also has passports from China and Vanuatu, was among the nine men and one woman arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on Aug 15 and charged the next day.

The value of the assets seized or frozen by the authorities currently stand at $2.8 billion.

On Thursday, Vang's lawyer, Mr Wendell Wong, argued that a district judge's order on Sept 29 denying his client bail was wrong.

He argued that Vang, who is also known as Wang Shuiming, should be granted bail with sufficient conditions to secure his attendance for his trial.

Mr Wong suggested that Vang could be made to wear an electronic tag. He added that his client is willing to be placed under 24-hour closed-circuit television camera surveillance.

Vang's family members are also willing to surrender all their passports and have their names put on the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority's watchlist, he added.

Mr Wong argued that there was no evidence his client was a flight risk apart from the fact that he has multiple passports, stressing that all the passports were legitimately obtained and issued by the respective governments.

He argued that the presumption of innocence has been overshadowed, even though Vang has never been convicted of any crimes.

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh maintained that Vang is a high flight risk suspect.

The prosecutor argued that Vang has no true roots in Singapore, as he is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident.

He noted that substantial assets of more than $240 million in the name of Vang and his wife have been seized or subject to prohibition orders in Singapore.

Vang also has more than $35.5 million in assets overseas, the DPP added.

"This provides him with the means and the motivation to move overseas and access the assets which are not seized," he said.

The prosecutor noted that Vang has been "vague" about the location of his Cambodian passport, which has not been found.

He said Vang's claim that he and his family members were willing to surrender their passports was meaningless.

"It is not possible for the police to determine how many passports they have, whether all of their passports had been surrendered, and... to prevent them from obtaining new passports," he said.

As for the watch list, the prosecutor pointed out that an accused person who wants to flee jurisdiction would not necessarily do so through the immigration checkpoints.

Justice Vincent Hoong will give his decision at 2.30pm.

Vang faces five charges, one for using a forged document and four for money laundering.

He is alleged to have submitted a forged bank statement to Citibank Singapore in March 2021 as supporting documentation.

The money laundering charges relate to about $2.4 million held in four bank accounts. The sums are said to be benefits from an unlicensed moneylending business in China.

Vang's brother, Wang Shuiting, is one of eight fugitives who are wanted by the Singapore police in connection with the case. The two brothers are on China's wanted list for illegal gambling activities.

Separately, Rainbow Centre, the operator of three special education schools, has acknowledged that it received donations from Vang and two other accused people.

According to Rainbow Centre's annual report, Vang donated $30,000.

It also received $25,350 from Su Haijin, and $17,100 from Zhang Ruijin.

Su, a Cypriot national, faces one charge of unlawfully evading arrest as well as a money laundering charge involving about $4 million in a UOB bank account which was allegedly the benefits of criminal conduct. 

The prosecution indicated at a pre-trial conference on Wednesday that it was ready to proceed with the current two charges against Su if investigations still cannot be completed within eight weeks.

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