[SINGAPORE] A former wealth banker at Citigroup got the longest sentence in Singapore’s biggest money laundering case for his role in aiding the movement of illicit funds and obstructing justice.
Wang Qiming, a former relationship manager at Citibank Singapore, was sentenced to 24 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to four out of 10 charges. The prosecutor sought 24 to 30 months imprisonment, while Wang’s defence lawyer argued for seven to 11 months.
The prosecutor argued that Wang knew the importance of anti-money laundering procedures but actively forged supporting documents and “flagrantly breached” his duties at the bank. The defence countered that Wang did not personally benefit from the laundered funds and that Citibank “suffered no direct loss”.
Former Julius Baer Group banker Liu Kai is scheduled to plead guilty on Friday, according to the hearing list on the Singapore Courts website.
The two cases are being closely watched for what they’ll show about the adequacy of banking safeguards against dirty money flows. The S$3 billion scandal in Singapore two years ago raised questions about the risks of the financial hub’s ambition to attract some of the world’s richest. The two relationship managers are the only financial professionals charged in connection with the case.
Authorities in the city-state arrested 10 people in 2023, eventually handing them jail sentences ranging from 13 months to 17 months and deporting them after their releases.
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Wang and Liu couldn’t be reached for comment through their lawyers. Citigroup declined to comment before Thursday’s hearing.
“This is a third-party matter and the individual named left the bank in 2022,” said a spokesperson for Julius Baer.
The arrests of 10 people from the southern Chinese province of Fujian shocked the city-state with revelations of their billions in real estate, luxury goods, cash and cryptocurrency. Much of these funds came from illegal gambling and unlicensed money lending in China.
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Wang was charged last year with 10 counts, including forging documents for the purpose of cheating the bank. The Chinese national, who left Citigroup in April 2022, also faces allegations including an obstruction of justice charge over deleting Whatsapp from his phone. Maximum penalties under the charges include fines and jail terms.
“At his young age, he is going to have difficulty going anywhere after that,” his lawyer said, adding Wang, 28, has already lost his place to further his postgraduate studies in Cambridge and will be repatriated to China after his sentence.
Liu was 35 when he was accused last year of helping one of the money launderers submit a forged Chinese tax document in 2020. This was for the purpose of opening a bank account in Switzerland, which never happened. Liu was with Julius Baer at the time, and later moved to Goldman Sachs in Singapore. He has since left Goldman.
Wang and Liu rode the waves as global banks in Singapore competed fiercely to bring in funds and generate fees from wealthy Chinese clients, Bloomberg News earlier reported. Both Chinese nationals were part of teams of Mandarin-speaking private bankers and relationship managers assembled by the firms to bring in business.
The case has rocked Singapore’s banking sector. The convicted individuals and their close associates, together with companies they controlled, held more than S$370 million at more than a dozen financial institutions, court records compiled earlier by Bloomberg show.
This year, the local units of Citigroup and Julius Baer were among nine financial firms punished by Singapore’s financial regulator for lapses relating to the case. The move wrapped up a two-year supervisory review, with the banks undertaking to fix the deficiencies. Citigroup received a S$2.6 million penalty, while Julius Baer’s was S$2.4 million. BLOOMBERG
