Su Haijin, who usually loves to show off his wealth and travels high-profile, finally played "out of the circle".
On the morning of August 15, 2023, after hearing the call of his eldest son, Su Haijin jumped from the second-floor balcony and planted in the backyard of the villa.
Eight Singaporean law enforcement officers spotted him next to the gutters behind the villa. In the photos released by the Singapore police, Su Haijin was wearing only short-sleeved shorts and bare feet. He also broke his leg.
Su Haijin, whose ancestral home is Anxi, Fujian, settled in Singapore in 2017. "He is not tall, he speaks Hokkien, lives in Bukit Temah's mansion, and picks up and drops off Rolls-Royce." Seen Su Haijin's "Singapore Eye" author description.
Singapore court records show that in 2019, Su Haijin and Wu Qin were married. At first, the family lived in a duplex apartment near Orchard Road, and soon rented a villa in Bukit Timah Yo Wo Garden in Singapore. The monthly rent of the latter is as high as S$80,000 (equivalent to more than 400,000 yuan).
This villa is surrounded by greenery and few people can see the home from the outside.
"His villa is like a recreation room, with a miniature golf course in the courtyard and karaoke in the basement." A person familiar with the matter told Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao.
In recent years, he has done a lot of "business" in Xiamen, China, and Cambodia. Suhai Kim is also a member of the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. Golf membership agency Active Golf Services revealed that Sentosa Golf Club is the most expensive golf club in Singapore, with foreign membership fees of up to S$1 million.
Suhaijin's extravagant life was suspended on August 15.
During the day, more than 400 Singaporean police officers also arrested nine other foreigners, including So Baolin (41), So Jianfeng (35), Zhang Ruijin (44), Lim Po Ying (43), Wang Shuiming (42), Chen Qingyuan (33), So Wenqiang (31), Wang Baosen (31) and Wang Dehai (34).
They are accused of money laundering, fraud, online gambling and forgery of documents, etc., and may have relatives, couples and partnerships with each other.
Singapore's Home Minister and Minister of Law, Shanmugen, said in an interview that "this is one of the largest anti-money laundering operations in Singapore". According to Singapore police statistics, the 10 suspects were involved in the case as much as S$2.8 billion (equivalent to 14.8 billion yuan).
At press time, Singapore courts have not accepted bail requests from any suspect for fear of absconding.
The location where the suspect in the money laundering case was arrested
The puzzle of "money laundering cases"
In order to arrest the 10 suspects, the Singapore police have been preparing for nearly three years.
"The first to find some documents falsifying bank account funds, suspicious financial reports, etc., [the Singapore government] launched investigations one by one." Singapore's Minister of Communications and Information and Second Minister of Home Affairs, Yeo Lai Meng, said in Parliament on October 3, 2023.
Suspicious financial reports come from suspects' corporate transactions, bank deposits, etc.
After living in Singapore in 2017, Su Haijin spent a lot of money, buying houses, yachts and companies.
Detached bungalow on Orchard Road, Singapore. (Lou Xiaoxi/Photo)
Southern Weekend reporters inquired about the documents of Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and found that Su Haijin has successively served as a director or shareholder of Singapore companies such as Love Sea Investment, Daily Glory International, Yihao Network Technology, Meining (Asia) International E-Commerce and SG-Gree.
According to Singapore's Business Times, Su Haijin bought two sea-view detached villas on Cove Drive on Sentosa Island in 2021 for S$36.4 million, merging them into one (to circumvent the restrictions on foreigners owning multiple apartments on Sentosa Island).
Also in 2021, the Singapore police detected some suspicious financial activities, such as providing forged documents to banks. In early 2022, the Singapore police launched a full investigation and targeted a group of people with family ties.
In 2022, the Singapore police only sent a small team of investigators to investigate, so as not to startle the snakes. "If the suspect is aware, he may abscond and the investigation will be lost." Yang Liming introduced.
Until early 2023, the Attorney General's Office assessed that the police had sufficient information to have sufficient reason to suspect that the group was suspected of criminal activities.
So on August 15, the Singapore Police dispatched 400 officers to launch an island-wide arrest operation.
Police believe that 41-year-old Su Baolin and Su Haijin are biological brothers.
Su Baolin and Su Haijin's ancestral home is both Anxi, Fujian, and the two have close financial exchanges. An investigation by the Singapore police found that the two properties in Meizhi Road owned by Su Haijin were purchased by Su Baolin in 2021, with a total price of about S$2.285 million.
Su Baolin is also a high-net-worth individual recognized by the Singapore Real Estate Network 99.co.
In 2022, Su Baolin and Su Haijin and two others jointly purchased yachts with a total price of S$5.45 million. Named "Family", the yacht is 38 meters long, can carry 10 passengers, and flies the flag of the South Pacific nation of the Cook Islands.
In early September, a Singapore court said the Family yacht had left Singapore and is now in Phuket, Thailand.
October 2023 at the Sentosa Cove Marina in eastern Sentosa Island, Singapore. The yacht purchased by Su Haijin and Su Baolin has left Singapore after the money laundering case. (Lou Xiaoxi/Photo)
But lawyers for the two denied police kinship allegations.
However, Southern Weekend reporters found that Su Haijin and Su Baolin had close business ties.
Su Baolin is also a shareholder and director of Meining (Asia) International E-Commerce and SG-Gree, a company related to Suhaijin. He is also a shareholder of Xinpo Investment Holdings, Xinjiamei Investment Company and Sentosa Project, a development project in Sentosa.
As of press time, the money laundering case is still under investigation and new evidence is still emerging.
After another suspect, So Jianfeng (35), was arrested, police investigating three insurance institutions found that he had S$17 million in cash. But when the money laundering case went to court on October 18, Su Jianfeng changed his words and said that the S$17 million was for others to keep.
Starting a company is the number one way to launder money
"The proceeds of funds obtained by the 10 suspects through illegal online gambling and online fraud are 'black money,' and the act of hiding and disguising the source of illegal funds to make black money appear to be legalized is money laundering." Yan Lixin, director of the China Anti-Money Laundering Center at Fudan University, explained to Southern Weekend.
In Singapore, 10 suspects have successively opened investment companies, technology companies, construction contracting companies, etc.
There are nearly 20 companies where Su Haijin and Su Baolin are senior executives. However, most companies are shell companies.
Southern Weekend compiled business records and found that three of them were still in operation, all with their registered addresses at 1 Suntec City, Temasek Avenue, Singapore. The other 11 companies have no place of registration, and another 6 are located in private residences with restricted access.
In recording his confession, Su admitted that he did not know the address of his company, An Xing Technology.
In Singapore, expatriates frequently set up companies and cultivated a group of "nominators".
"There is a higher threshold for expats to open a company alone in Singapore." Wang Jian, a director of Singapore's DMC Consulting, explained to Southern Weekend that when a foreigner without an Enter Pass opens a company, a Singaporean local or Singapore permanent resident must serve as the company's director or secretary. "At present, Singapore does not limit the number of local people who can serve as nominee directors and statutory secretaries."
In the records of the Accounting and Corporate Control Authority, 20 "pseudonymous" persons were linked to the suspect's company.
These "nominees" serve as secretaries of hundreds of companies without interruption, or as shareholders and directors.
"They let me invest in and take care of their company. But I never took a penny and had no shares. Wang Yuan, a 41-year-old Singaporean whose ancestral home is in Shanghai, told The Straits Times.
Some money-laundering gangs also "lure" regular companies to "shell" money laundering on their behalf.
Yue Siqiu, a Fujian Sanming native who has been doing business in Singapore for 10 years, has been in contact with money launderers in Singapore.
"The other party wants to hang someone from their team in my company and buy a house with my company. They paid for the house and paid me 10%. Yue Siqiu told Southern Weekend that the other party was eyeing her company just because the company's accounts were clean and the bank would not suspect it.
Yue Siqiu refused the money launderer, but was harassed for a long time. "Because of the good pay, some Chinese merchants in Orchard Road will agree to these people's demands." She said.
The 10 suspects held large assets in their names. As of 3 October, the Singapore Police had issued injunctions against as many as 152 properties. The prohibited properties belong to the suspects, their spouses or their companies, and include 7 single-family bungalows in Sentosa Ascend Bay, 79 apartments (19 of which are still under construction) and 19 commercial plots.
"It can be said that there are as many ways to make money, and there are as many ways to launder money." Yan Lixin told Southern Weekend Reporter, "Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, gold jewelry, precious metals, luxury goods, collectibles, etc. often become money laundering tools because of their small size, high value, conducive to carrying or transportation, and convenient cash." ”
In recent years, many real estate people have come into contact with the "local tycoons" who have made generous money. Tian Xin, a Singaporean real estate agent, confirmed to Southern Weekend that he had sold high-end apartments and single-family houses to Singaporean Fujianese. "Some rich people with Hokkien accents can buy two or three houses in my hands at once."
It only takes a team of accountants and lawyers to do a good job of accounting and using real estate money laundering to hide the sky. "If you encounter a bank asking about the source of funds, as long as the fake account is done perfectly, you can cheat it." A real estate agent told Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao.
Among the luxury goods seized by Singapore police in the suspect's home were luxury cars, watches, famous paintings and trendy building block bears.
For example, a Mercedes-Benz AMG luxury car priced at S$500,000; the Patek Jade Platinum Astronomical Tourbillon watch worth S$8 million; Multiple bottles of 30-year-old Moutai and 100 Macallan whiskey...
Make money in Cambodia, live in Singapore?
Southern Weekend reporters combed through the information of 10 suspects and found that most of them were from Anxi County, Fujian Province, and in the early years, they opened online gambling parks and engaged in online fraud business in the Philippines, Cambodia and other countries.
Most of their "black money" is obtained through illegal online gambling and online fraud in Cambodia, the Philippines and other countries.
Subsequently, they forged documents, transferred illegal gains into Singapore through banks in Singapore, and bought and rented several luxury homes, luxury cars and luxury goods.
Wang Shuiming, 42, is a suspect in a money laundering case with a high total assets. He was charged with forging documents, possessing illegal money lending, and holding passports from Turkey, China and Vanuatu.
The Singapore court revealed that Wang Shuiming's assets in Singapore exceeded S$200 million, while his assets in other countries amounted to about S$35.5 million, including S$24.53 million in Cambodia. Wang owns 11 apartments in Singapore, ten of which are located in Canninghill Piers at the back of the mountains and the other is Park Nova on Tong Lam Son Road in Orchard Road.
Park Nova Apartment on Tang Lam Seng Road, Orchard Road. (Lou Xiaoxi/Photo)
According to Cambodian government records, Wang Shuiming, Su Baolin, Su Jianfeng and Su Wenqiang obtained citizenship in 2019. The other five became Cambodian citizens between August 2018 and March 2021.
During the period of obtaining their status, they lived in Singapore most of the time.
"The suspects have become Cambodian citizens one after another, and at the same time there are other Chinese naturalized together, most of whom are the 'behind-the-scenes heads' of Cambodian online gambling companies." According to the non-profit organization Internet Fraud Monitoring Network.
Southern Weekend reporters asked a number of Chinese living in Cambodia, many of whom could recognize Su Baolin and Su Haijin, and some had "dealings" with Wang Shuiming.
"Wang Shuiming is a well-known Fujianese in Cambodia's online gambling circle, and more than ninety percent of Chinese in Cambodia know him." Lu Zeyuan, who lives in Cambodia, told Southern Weekend and called Wang Shuiming a "figure."
Ten years ago, Wang Shuiming started with a Philippine gambling site and was one of the first Fujianese to open online gambling in the Philippines.
At its peak, Wang Shuiming's employees reached 10,000. After accumulating funds in the Philippines, Wang Shuiming went to Cambodia to expand his online gambling business.
Lin Xiao, a Cambodian-language media person, told Southern Weekend that Wang Shuiming entered the online gambling circle early. The "Dafabet System" developed by their team is used by online gambling companies in Cambodia, Myanmar, Dubai and other places. The system is "relatively fair and does not 'kill pigs' easily."
Under normal circumstances, online gambling companies regard participating online gamblers as "pigs", and when gamblers recharge large amounts, the company's background will lock the gambler's account funds and cut off contact with them to achieve the purpose of "killing pigs".
Southern Weekend reporters inquired about industrial and commercial information in Cambodia and Singapore and found that Wang Shuiming is the chairman of Daming IT Services in Cambodia and a director and shareholder of Zhuo Chi Technology in Singapore. All of the above-mentioned companies claim to be "mainly engaged in software development".
Wang Shuiming is also one of the eight directors of SCWD Construction Cambodia, which was registered in 2016 and whose letters correspond to the directors' surnames: Su, Chen, Wang, Deng.
Another suspect in the money laundering case, Wang Dehai, is also one of the eight directors of SCWD Construction.
On August 15, Wang Dehai was arrested at an apartment in the Paterson Hill neighborhood of Orchard Road and charged with money laundering. Singaporean police found more than S$2.2 million in cash, 35 watches, 51 pieces of jewellery and several designer bags in his apartment.
Lu Zeyuan, who has lived in Cambodia for nearly a decade, told Southern Weekend that after the online fraud business has expanded, the bigwigs behind the scenes will set up companies in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, and some "bigwigs" will even have private jets.
"These people end up going to Singapore for a different life." Lu Zeyuan said.
But online gambling owners living in Singapore will not stop their online fraud business in Southeast Asia.
"The owners of these online gambling companies will manage the company's affairs remotely, and may fly to Cambodia two or three times a year, only handling the big things, and handing over the small things to the general manager of the park." Lin Xiao told Southern Weekend.
"Almost the whole village is in Singapore"
Singapore's Hokkien gang also came to light with the money laundering case.
"Singapore's Hokkien gang has dozens of people and hundreds of them, and among them they are divided into gangs by surname, and Su, Wang, Hu and Chen are the main gangs." An anonymous real estate agent told Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao.
Su Haijin and another suspect, Wang Dehai, are believed to be the bosses of the two gangs surnamed Su and Wang.
The Singapore Hokkien Gang has always been generous. "They usually live a high-profile life, driving Lamborghini, Ferrari, etc., and when they go to high-end nightclubs to spend, they are accompanied by Chinese girls."
Fujian helps focus on geography and clan relations, and prefers small circle culture.
A friend of Lin Xiao is in the same village as Wang Shuiming, "They are a small circle culture, and he helps Wang Shuiming agency business (do fraud). They themselves will make a plate out, and the villagers will play it themselves. Lin Xiao told Southern Weekend.
At the end of September 2023, Su Haijin's defense lawyer Zheng Huilong said in court that Su Haijin's four children, his parents, father-in-law and mother-in-law, and even several siblings, sisters and relatives are in Singapore. "Almost the whole village of them is in Singapore."
"People in the Fujian gang like to find excellent young men as lobbyists, meet local Chinese and negotiate cooperation." Liu Yanan, a Singaporean Chinese, told Southern Weekend that he had been invited by lobbyists several times, "but I didn't say yes."
The Singapore government has adopted a "zero tolerance" approach to this money laundering case.
In mid-September, Singapore's Home Affairs and Law Minister Shang Mogen told Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao newspaper that anyone who does anything illegal in Singapore, or does illegal business overseas, and then tries to launder money in Singapore, they will take action.
On September 29, 2023, during Wang Shuiming's third court appearance, a Singapore judge rejected his bail application on the grounds of "possible absconding" and "collusion with other suspects".
Wang Shuiming and many other suspects in the money laundering case still have criminal records in China and are domestic fugitives.
In May 2022, the Boshan District Public Security Bureau of Zibo City, Shandong Province cracked a "Hengbo charter gambling case", arrested 131 criminal suspects who opened gambling websites and illegally made profits, and recovered more than 10 million yuan of funds involved in the case. Wang Shuiming is the most wanted person recorded by the Boshan District Public Security Bureau.
In the above-mentioned case, there are still nine people involved in the case who are illegally staying abroad, except for Wang Shuiming, the remaining eight are all from Anxi County, Fujian Province, and most of them have the surname Wang.
Wang Dehai, the leader of the Fujian gang surnamed Wang, was wanted by the public security level B of Guiyang County in Hunan Province in 2018 for suspected online gambling cases. Also wanted at the same time were Su Jianfeng and Su Wenqiang in this money laundering case.
The Singapore court investigation found that Wang Dehai joined a gambling company from the Philippines in 2012 and gradually expanded the business from customer service and promotion. At present, the gambling website where Wang Dehai previously worked is still operating.
The Marq on Paterson Hill on Orchard Road. The place where money laundering suspect Wang Dehai was arrested. (Lou Xiaoxi/Photo)
"The ten suspects belong to a larger criminal group, and they are inextricably linked to each other." In September 2023, the Singapore Police Business Affairs Bureau (CAD), which is responsible for money laundering cases, confessed in a court affidavit.
At present, Singapore police have not found business links between Wang and nine other suspects. However, Wang Baosen's name has long been tied to Southeast Asian fraud gangs.
The Southern Weekend reporter checked the judgment document website and found that as early as 2013, Wang Baosen joined the Philippine "Hongli International" online gambling website just established by Wang Bin, a native of Anxi, Fujian, to be responsible for financial work. In 2014, the website team moved to the Cambodian border city of Ba Vang (known as Mu Pai in Vietnam), and then Wang Baosen gradually took charge of the overall management of the Hongli International website, with a basic salary of 10,000 yuan and a bonus commission.
The website involved up to 980 million yuan in gambling funds.
In addition to the 10 suspects charged, several others are currently assisting the Singapore police investigation, including corporate service providers, real estate brokerages and financial institutions.
On August 28, 2023, Singapore's Ministry of Justice issued a 34-person review list to gem and precious metals dealers, including Wong's wife, Ho Wai Fang, and Wang Bingang, founder of the Hongli International website. The review list is intended to alert gemstone dealers to report suspicious transactions in a timely manner.
The case continues to rage, and in early September, a Singapore court affidavit revealed that 100 million yuan had been frozen for one of Mr. Wang's cousins, who had fled Singapore.
In order to live in other countries, the suspects often hold passports from multiple countries. A Singapore court revealed on October 18 that the only female suspect, Lim Po Eng, had paid $130,000 and $160,000 respectively to buy passports for Dominica and Cambodia.
"Small country passports can be bought through immigration agents and are not difficult to obtain." Wang Jian, director of Singapore's DMC consulting company, told Southern Weekend that after the money laundering case was exposed, Singapore introduced a policy that makes it difficult for Chinese with a small country passport to open a bank account and open a company.
"Unless these people can issue a certificate of renunciation." Wang Jian said.
At press time, 10 suspects are still seeking court bail.
Under Singapore law, a person guilty of money laundering is punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment, a fine of up to S$500,000, or both.
Cham Mugen admitted that the 10 money laundering defendants, once convicted, will serve their sentences in Singapore, and after serving their sentences, they will be sent back to the country where he holds his passport or to a country with which Singapore has an extradition agreement.
(At the request of interviewees, Wang Yuan, Liu Yanan, Lin Xiao, Lv Zeyuan, Tian Xin, and Yue Siqiu are pseudonyms in the text)
Southern Weekend Reporter Gu Yuebing Southern Weekend Intern Jiang Lai Xu Ziyi
Responsible editor: Yao Yijiang