(Oct 31): Singapore has seized more than S$150 million (US$115 million) in assets linked to alleged money laundering and forgery in an operation involving Cambodian conglomerate Prince Holding Group and its founder Chen Zhi.
Among the assets seized were six properties and financial assets such as bank accounts, securities accounts and cash, the Singapore Police Force said on Friday. Other assets subject to so-called prohibition of disposal orders include a yacht, 11 cars and multiple bottles of liquor.
The moves come more than two weeks after the US indicted China-born Chen for his alleged leadership of a vast transnational scam syndicate and criminal network. US and UK authorities also sanctioned the 37-year-old, his associates and related companies, and accused them of operating scam centres that stole money from victims worldwide and laundered billions of dollars in funds.
The case also revealed the depth of Chen’s activities in Singapore, a major financial hub which has faced questions over its safeguards against illicit money flows in recent years.
Singapore police said they mounted an enforcement operation on Oct 30 at multiple locations across the city state against Chen and his associates. The individuals are not in the country currently, the police said, adding that investigations are ongoing.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said separately on Friday that it is working closely with the police to follow up on the case involving Prince Group. It said it will also conduct “supervisory reviews” with financial institutions “with a nexus to the case”.
See also: Singapore ties to multi-billion dollar scam case in spotlight (update)
The regulator said that since 2022, financial institutions had filed suspicious transaction reports and that some of them had “undertaken risk mitigation measures” that included closing accounts they found dubious. It said those moves “had averted larger sums from being held in our financial sector”.
The police, for their part, said it was in 2024 when it “received financial intelligence from the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office” regarding Chen and his associates. They said that because the alleged crimes took place overseas, they had sought information and assistance from their foreign counterparts.
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