SG is money-laundering hub

[LITTLEREDDOT]

$3b money laundering case: MinLaw names 6 law firms taken to task over involvement in property deals​

The ministry named another three law practices it has reprimanded for their involvement in the property deals.

PHOTO: MINISTRY OF LAW WEBSITE

Aug 02, 2025

SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) has named the three law firms penalised for anti-money laundering breaches over the purchase of properties in Singapore’s largest case of money laundering involving $3 billion.

The ministry also named another three law practices it has reprimanded for their involvement in the property deals, and the five lawyers referred to the Law Society for potential disciplinary action.

In a statement on Aug 1, MinLaw said the Director of Legal Services (DLS) has now dealt with 13 out of the 24 law practices that were involved in the property deals. Inquiries into the remaining 11 firms are ongoing.

Anthony Law Corporation (ALC) has paid a financial penalty of $100,000. The head of the firm’s conveyancing department, Mr Tan Chau Chuang, has been referred to the Law Society.

ALC acted for nine clients to convey 25 properties valued at around $135 million in total.

Among other breaches, the firm “did not corroborate or verify the clients’ explanations for why the transactions were being funded by seemingly unrelated third parties, even though these were red flags”, the ministry said.

ALC also continued to undertake transactions for some of these clients despite filing Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) against them.

Fortis Law Corporation (FLC) paid a financial penalty of $30,000. Two of its lawyers, Mr Andrew Wong Wei Kiat (who is no longer practising at FLC) and Mr Patrick Tan Tse Chia, were referred to the Law Society.

The firm had acted for 16 clients to convey 55 properties valued at around $398.7 million in total.


It did not verify the clients’ claims that the payments for the transactions were indeed from legitimate remittance companies, MinLaw said.

Legal Solutions LLC (LS) has been ordered to pay $70,000. Lawyer Patrick Ee Tian Huat, who is no longer practising at LS, was referred to the Law Society.

LS had acted for two clients to convey 20 properties valued at around $117 million in total.

MinLaw said the firm had not done all the required enhanced customer due diligence measures after it filed an STR, such as documenting its internal discussions on, and reasons for, retaining the clients despite filing the STR.

The ministry reprimanded three law firms to remind them to be mindful of their anti-money laundering obligations and responsibilities, it said.

Among them was Malkin & Maxwell LLP, which had acted for one client to convey one property valued at around $40 million.


The other two firms were: William Poh & Louis Lim (WPLL), now Louis Lim & Partners, and Templars Law LLC (TL).

Mr William Poh Tian Hock, the former managing partner of WPLL until around May 2023, was also referred to the Law Society.

Until May 2023, Mr Poh had commenced transactions for six clients to convey 32 properties valued at around $246.7 million in total.


Twenty-six of these property transactions were concluded while Mr Poh was practising at WPLL.

He left WPLL in May 2023 to join TL, and WPLL was renamed Louis Lim & Partners.

Mr Poh brought the remaining six property transactions to TL and concluded the transactions soon after in June 2023.

MinLaw said that the fees that each law practice had collected in total from acting for their clients for these transactions ranged from $15,000 to around $170,000.

In July, MinLaw said it was supporting the DLS in conducting inquiries into the law practices that were involved in the conveyancing of the real estate seized in an anti-money laundering operation in August 2023.

The DLS heads the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, which is a department under MinLaw that oversees the regulation of all law practice entities and the registration of foreign lawyers in Singapore.

Among its roles, the Law Society maintains the standards of conduct of the legal profession in Singapore.

MinLaw added that a law practice that breaches its anti-money laundering obligations can face regulatory control action against its licence.

Singapore’s largest case of money laundering involving $3 billion in cash and assets saw 10 foreigners arrested in multiple islandwide raids here on Aug 15, 2023.

The nine men and one woman, who were originally from Fujian, China, were jailed, deported and barred from re-entering Singapore.

 

[Papsmearer]

Why don't they take to task Shan on his $88 million property deal?

 

[True Believer]

Why don't they take to task Shan on his $88 million property deal?

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

5 years’ jail for man who used over $1.5b in criminal proceeds to buy gold bars​

Kim Taek-hoon sent more than 23,500 gold bars, hidden in industrial tools, to his home country of South Korea and to Japan.

Summary

• Kim Taek Hoon received cash totalling more than $1.5 billion from overseas.
• He used the money to buy nearly 28,000 gold bars.
• On Sept 4, Kim pleaded guilty multiple charges for offences including cheating.

AI generated

Oct 01, 2025

SINGAPORE – A man who bought nearly 28,000 gold bars after receiving more than $1.5 billion in proceeds from a foreign crime was sentenced to five years’ jail on Oct 1.

South Korean Kim Taek-hoon, 64, sent more than 23,500 of the gold bars, hidden inside industrial tools, to his home country and to Japan.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of cheating – one involving Singapore Customs and two linked to logistics service providers.

He also pleaded guilty to one count each of money laundering and receiving more than $20,000 in cash from overseas without alerting the authorities.

The prosecution said Kim did not know the ultimate source of the money, but he believed that the funds were sent to him as part of an “illegal activity”. Details of the proceeds of this overseas crime were not disclosed in court documents.

Kim received around $1 million for his involvement in the scheme.

In either 2013 or 2014, a man known as Cha Young-soo had told Kim about a “business opportunity”, and asked Kim to accompany him to Singapore. The two men got to know each other while they were both jailed in South Korea for undisclosed offences.

When they arrived here, Cha proposed an arrangement in which Kim would use cash to buy gold bars in Singapore and conceal them in shipments to South Korea and Japan. Kim agreed to it.

Cha also instructed Kim to buy gold bars only from a jewellery wholesaler in Singapore that was not named in court documents.

Cha later made arrangements for shipments or parcels from South Korea and Japan to be sent to Kim in Singapore. The shipments and parcels contained cash concealed in grease pumps.

Deputy public prosecutors David Koh and Wong Shiau Yin stated in court documents that each pump contained at least US$200,000 (S$258,000), and each shipment contained three or four pumps.

Only the grease pumps were declared in the shipping documents, the court heard.

After removing the cash, Kim placed the grease pumps back into the boxes they came in and shipped them to either South Korea or Japan.

Kim kept part of the cash for himself as his reward. He used the remaining cash to buy gold bars from the jewellery wholesaler.

Separately, Cha also sent shipments of air-powered wrenches to Kim in Singapore.


Kim then concealed the gold bars in the wrenches, repacked the tools and exported them to South Korea and Japan.

Kim made these exports in the name of three companies in Singapore.

The DPPs said the companies were controlled by Kim’s friend, who did not know that Kim was concealing gold bars in the shipments.

The prosecutors added that Kim exported the shipments through these companies, declaring that they contained only “air impact wrenches”.

Kim also cheated Singapore Customs by stating that the exports contained only the tools, and not the gold bars.

He was arrested in December 2023, shortly after Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department received information that he could be involved in a suspicious shipment that was sent to Japan that same month.

 

[Geneco]

The washing machine ish still very much operational lololololol