28亿洗钱案被告苏文强潜逃风险高 保释申请被拒
发布: 2023-11-02 11:05 PM
涉28亿洗钱案被告苏文强的案件过堂，因苏文强有能力获取他国护照并且在国外拥有资产，还可能有人协助他潜逃，法官批准控方将他还押候审的申请，案展12月进入审前会议。
被告苏文强（31岁）面对两项抵触贪污、贩毒、严重罪案（没收利益）法令的控状，指他持有60万1706元，全额或部分是非法线上赌博赃款，并使用从菲律宾非法线上赌博获得的50万元，购买马赛地AMG C63S汽车。
取得护照前从未去过柬埔寨和瓦努阿图
法官发表决定时说，苏文强面对的是不可保释的控状，他不是新加坡公民或永久居民，国籍是柬埔寨。苏文强还持有中国、柬埔寨和瓦努阿图三个国家的护照。尽管在取得护照前从未去过柬埔寨和瓦努阿图，他仍有能力取得护照。
另外，苏文强在2021年移居新加坡，虽然他的两个孩子在本地国际学校求学，但妻儿同样不是新加坡公民或永久居民，父母则仍在中国居住，显然在新加坡扎根不深。
法官说，被中国当局通缉的苏文强，现在面对的是严重罪行，他有再度潜逃的动机。他在中国拥有价值190万新元的房产，而且也有可能会协助他潜逃的同伙。
因此，法官认为苏文强潜逃的高风险确实存在，最终批准控方的无保释申请，让苏文强还押候审。
案件星期四（11月2日）过堂时，苏文强穿着白衣，戴着眼镜通过视讯出庭，神色冷静。他的代表律师是Gabriel Law Corporation的玛诺之（Manoj Nandwani）和萨米尔（Sameer Melber）。
辩方：所涉菲律宾赌博活动在菲是合法生意 获当局批准
辩方律师在庭上指出，控状指苏文强涉及菲律宾的非法赌博活动，但这在菲律宾是合法的生意，并得到菲律宾当局的批准。
另外，苏文强带着妻子和年龄分别为五岁和六岁的孩子，让孩子在这里接受教育，早有在新加坡定居的计划。
律师也说，苏文强愿意遵守严格的保释条件，如佩戴电子追踪器等，这些条件已足够应对控方所说的潜逃风险，因此请求法官让他保释在外。
控方却指出，苏文强面对的是不得保释的控状，且他持有中国、柬埔寨和瓦努阿图的护照，即使他的护照已被收缴，但仍说明他有能力获得他国的护照。
调查官宣誓书：赌博生意主要客源来自中国 被告以现金领薪水
调查官的宣誓书揭露，苏文强是菲律宾和柬埔寨的远程赌博生意的高管，这门生意以中国赌客为主。而且，苏文强是以现金领取薪水，当局也有证据证明控状中款项与上述生意相关。
另外，苏文强自2017年因非法赌博活动被中国当局通缉，他通过远程赌博生意的同伙安排取得瓦努阿图的护照，并使用这本护照出国。
调查显示，苏文强与目前被新加坡警方通缉的四人有联系，他们曾通过通信平台讨论赌博网站的运营和资金转移。若苏文强保释在外，他们有可能助他潜逃。
控方也说，虽然苏文强称赌博生意合法，却没有出示任何许可证明文件。
控方在庭上透露，目前针对苏文强的调查仍在进行中，日后有加控的可能，因此申请将案件延展六周。
案件展期至12月14日进行审前会议。
法官早前也批准控方对其他八名被告林宝英（43岁）、王德海（34岁）、张瑞金（44岁）、苏剑锋（35岁）、王宝森（31岁）、王水明（42岁）、苏海金（40岁）和苏宝林（41岁）的还押候审申请。陈清远（33岁）的无保释申请则展期决定。
Billion-dollar money-laundering case: Wanted man accused of laundering S$500k by buying car denied bail
Su Wenqiang was purportedly recruited to be an executive in a remote lottery business based in the Philippines and Cambodia and was paid for his work in cash.
02 Nov 2023 06:39PM
(Updated: 03 Nov 2023 07:49AM)
SINGAPORE: Yet another accused person in the billion-dollar money laundering probe has been denied bail, with the investigating officer alleging that Su Wenqiang was wanted in China and worked in a remote lottery business operating from the Philippines and Cambodia.
Su, a 31-year-old man listed as a Cambodian national in charge sheets, is accused of two offences: Having S$601,706 (US$441,000) that comes at least in part from illegal remote gambling offences, and using S$500,000 in illegal proceeds to buy a Mercedes Benz AMG C63S in January last year.
Su has passports from China, Cambodia and Vanuatu and is shown in his Chinese passport to be from Fujian.
His lawyers, Mr Sameer Amir Melber and Mr Manoj Nandwani from Gabriel Law Corporation, applied for him to be released on bail on Thursday (Nov 2).
Mr Sameer said there has been extensive media attention surrounding this case, but the prosecution has tried to group all 10 accused people together and link them.
He argued that his client was not a flight risk. Most of his assets have been seized, and even if he has a house in China, he is wanted there.
Mr Sameer said it was unlikely that further evidence would be obtained through remanding his client further, and said there has been no charge for common intention or conspiracy involving his client.
While the prosecution had said there were four individuals who could help Su escape, Mr Sameer said that by the prosecution’s own submissions, the four people were simply not in Singapore at the time of the police raid.
It was not as if they had escaped, he said.
He said his client was a father of two young children aged five and six and that he had moved them to Singapore intending to live here permanently and to benefit from the “robust education system”.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Soh pointed to the affidavits filed by the investigating officer on Su’s case in objecting to bail.
According to Senior Investigation Officer with the Criminal Investigation Department Mr Francis Lim, Su was arrested on Aug 15 after the islandwide raid conducted by the Singapore Police Force linked to money-laundering offences.
A total of S$601,706 in cash linked to Su has been seized, along with his wife’s bank account containing about S$2 million and two vehicles worth at least S$584,000 in his wife’s name.
The second charge for the Mercedes Benz was tendered after investigations found that Su had bought it with S$500,000 in cash, Mr Lim said.
In total, Su faces offences involving suspected criminal proceeds of over S$1.1 million, which Mr Lim said was “no small sum”.
He said further charges may be tendered against Su as investigations are still at an early stage and the police are still examining the sources of Su’s wealth.
THE IO’S INVESTIGATIONS SO FAR
Mr Lim said investigations so far show that Su was recruited to be an executive in a remote lottery business operating from the Philippines and Cambodia.
The business targeted gamblers from China, and investigations show that he was paid for his work in cash. There is also evidence that the money in Su’s charges can be linked to these illegal remote gambling operations overseas, Mr Lim said.
He said it would be “a great injustice” if Su managed to abscond and evade the charges.
He said Su has been wanted by Chinese authorities for his illegal gambling activities since 2017, and knows this.
He admitted that an associate in the remote lottery business arranged for him to procure a passport from Vanuatu through a courier, and he used this passport to travel, said Mr Lim.
He said Su has no strong roots in Singapore. His parents live in China while his wife and children are Chinese nationals.
He has a house in Xiamen worth around S$1.9 million under his wife’s name, and accomplices who may help him abscond, said Mr Lim.
“Based on the mobile phones seized from the accused, he and his accomplices would communicate with each other in WhatsApp and Telegram group chats to discuss the operations of their remote gambling websites,” said Mr Lim. “They would also discuss the transnational movement of funds from the remote gambling websites.”
He said these accomplices are at large and can help Su abscond.
The judge dismissed the bail application, saying Su has only been in Singapore for two years after moving here with his family in 2021 and is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident. She fixed the case for a pre-trial conference in December.
Money laundering accused on the run from Chinese authorities, came to S’pore in 2021: Prosecutor
SINGAPORE – One of the 10 people accused in Singapore’s largest money laundering case was not just a foreigner when he came to Singapore in 2021.
He was a fugitive on the run from the Chinese authorities, said the prosecution on Thursday.
This was revealed at the bail review for Cambodian national Su Wenqiang, 31. His application for bail was denied.
In arguing for his client to be released on bail, Su’s lawyer Sameer Amir Melber said Su came to Singapore in 2021 with his wife and children, aged five and six, as he wanted his children to be educated here.
But Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Soh said: “The fact that his children study in Singapore is clearly insufficient to show that he is not a flight risk.
“The accused is not just a foreigner who came to Singapore in 2021. He is also a wanted fugitive who is currently evading Chinese authorities. He is currently on the run (from the authorities in China).”
Senior investigation officer (SIO) Francis Lim of the Criminal Investigation Department said in an affidavit that Su has been wanted by the Chinese authorities for illegal online gambling activities since 2017.
SIO Lim said Su was recruited to be an executive at a remote lottery business operating from the Philippines and Cambodia, and targeting gamblers from China. He was paid in cash.
Su and his accomplices would communicate via WhatsApp and Telegram group chats to discuss their operations, including moving funds from remote gambling websites across borders, said SIO Lim.
He said these four accomplices are wanted by police here, as they were not in Singapore when anti-money laundering raids were conducted here on Aug 15.
In Su’s affidavit, he claimed even if he were to be granted bail, he would not be able to contact his accomplices as his laptops and mobile phones had been seized.
But SIO Lim argued that Su could use another device to access his WhatsApp and Telegram accounts and get his accomplices’ help to abscond.
Su, who was arrested at a good class bungalow in Bukit Timah on Aug 15, faces two money laundering charges. He was charged on Aug 16 with allegedly possessing $601,706, which is said to represent his benefits from criminal conduct.
He was handed another charge on Aug 30 for allegedly buying a Mercedes-Benz AMG C63S car using $500,000 that was allegedly his benefit from providing an unlawful remote gambling service based in the Philippines for people in China.
SIO Lim noted in his first affidavit that the police also seized two vehicles in Su’s wife’s name, with an estimated value of at least $584,000, and more than $2 million parked in her bank account.
Su also has substantial wealth overseas, including a house in Xiamen worth around $1.9 million and registered to his wife Su Yanping.
On Thursday, Mr Sameer told the court that his client had said all gambling services in the Philippines were approved by the authorities there. He added that the remote gambling services were not facilitated in Singapore and no one here had used these services.
But DPP Soh said in his submissions that Su had not shown any licence for the remote gambling business to the police.
And even if the business was legal in the Philippines, Su had purportedly provided gambling services to Chinese citizens in China, which is an offence in China, said DPP Soh.
Su appeared via video link in a white shirt and kept his head down during proceedings.
At the hearing on Aug 30, he had said in Mandarin that he was on the verge of a mental breakdown and requested that the court grant him bail.
In denying Su bail on Thursday, District Judge Brenda Tan noted that he was neither a Singapore citizen nor a permanent resident here.
She said: “He owns passports from Cambodia, China and Vanuatu. He did not dispute that he was able to obtain his passports from Cambodia and Vanuatu with ease even though he had never been to those countries.”
She added that Su’s parents reside in China and his family members are foreigners, thus clearly showing he has no deep roots in Singapore.
The judge said: “Moreover, he is a fugitive who has been on the run. Mr Su would thus have the motive and incentive to relocate and flee again.”
She noted that he has accomplices at large who may assist him in absconding.
Ten foreigners, all originally from China, were charged on Aug 16 with various offences, including money laundering, forgery and resisting arrest.
The authorities have since taken control of more than $2.8 billion worth of assets, including 152 properties and 62 vehicles with an estimated value of more than $1.24 billion.
The assets also include money in bank accounts amounting to more than $1.45 billion, and cash in various currencies worth more than $76 million.
Thousands of bottles of liquor and wine, cryptocurrency worth more than $38 million, 68 gold bars, 294 luxury bags, 164 branded watches and 546 pieces of jewellery were also seized.
It is Singapore’s biggest money laundering case and said to be one of the world’s largest.
Su’s case is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Dec 14.
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