MONEY launderer Su Jianfeng, one of the 10 foreign nationals involved in Singapore’s largest money laundering case, was convicted on Thursday (Jun 6).
The 36-year-old Vanuatu national pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes Act and one count of forgery.
These charges aside, Su Jianfeng faces three counts of money laundering, seven counts of forgery and two charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, which were taken into consideration by the judge for sentencing purposes.
After hearing submissions from the prosecution and defence on sentencing and mitigation, District Judge James Lee adjourned the proceedings, and will deliver his sentence on Monday.
The court heard on Thursday that Su Jianfeng and his wife Chen Qiuyan have agreed to forfeit to the state 95 per cent of the assets in their names that have been seized or frozen.
The Business Times previously reported that more than S$160 million of his assets were seized or given prohibition of disposal orders, which means they cannot be sold.
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The amount is part of more than S$3 billion in assets that have been seized in relation to the islandwide money laundering blitz in August last year that led to the arrests of the 10 foreign nationals.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Grace Teo said that in 2019, Su Jianfeng was involved with an illegal remote gambling operation based in the Philippines, which ran a website for people in China to participate in gambling activities. Online gambling is illegal in China.
Su Jianfeng relocated his children to Singapore in August 2019, then moved here in 2020.
On the forgery charge, Teo stated that Su Jianfeng submitted a number of property sales contracts to Maybank Singapore, knowing they were false. This was allegedly to deceive the bank into believing he had legitimate sources of wealth.
Two of the contracts were for the sale of properties to a Li Bao. Su Jianfeng submitted them on or around Sep 30, 2022.
A third contract was for the sale of another property to a Lin Zhenghu. The document was submitted to Maybank on or around Mar 17, 2021.
Su Jianfeng claimed that deposits of S$1,029,970 and S$969,970 made by a firm named Tuo Xin You were proceeds from the sale of the property.
The prosecution, which sought 17 to 18 months of jail for Su Jianfeng, pointed out one aggravating factor is the large amount of illegal proceeds involved in Su Jianfeng’s money laundering charges.
DPP Edwin Soh referred to Su Wenqiang, the first to be sentenced in the money laundering case on Apr 2. Su Wenqiang, who faced eight money laundering charges involving S$1.6 million, was handed a jail term of 13 months. In contrast, Su Jianfeng’s money laundering charges involve a much bigger sum of S$17.5 million.
In his mitigation plea, Su Jianfeng’s counsel N Sreenivasan of K&L Gates Straits Law said that while his client was one of the last to indicate a guilty plea, he had done so as soon as possible.
The lawyer highlighted that some of the money laundering-related charges were served only three weeks ago, and that his client had to plead guilty soon after these charges were handed down.
“Documents were being exchanged… it’s not like all the plead guilty (mentions) have occurred and we are coming six months down the road,” he said in response to Soh’s submission that the late plea of guilt should not be a strong mitigating factor.
Sreenivasan also objected to Soh’s statement that it appeared that Su Jianfeng had, up to late-May, intended to claim trial and only moved to plead guilty after the other foreign nationals in the case had been sentenced.
Sreenivasan later further pointed out that the amount Su Jianfeng will be forfeiting to the state is more than 10 times the amount implicated in his client’s money laundering charges, and should therefore be a mitigating factor.
Among the 10 that have been charged in Singapore’s largest money laundering case where assets worth about S$3 billion have been seized, Su Jianfeng is the ninth who has been dealt with by the court.
He is also one of the last accused to inform the court of his intention to plead guilty.
Eight foreign nationals – Su Wenqiang, Su Haijin, Su Baolin, Wang Baosen, Vang Shuiming, Zhang Ruijin, Chen Qingyuan and Lin Baoying – were sentenced to between 13 and 15 months’ jail each.
They have forfeited more than S$722.3 million in assets to the state so far.
Wang Dehai, a Cypriot, is the last foreign national who has indicated a guilty plea. He is expected to plead guilty on Friday.
