$1.85b in assets surrendered by 15 suspects on the run

Assets worth about $1.85 billion have been surrendered to the state by 15 foreigners who are on the run from the police in Singapore's lar-gest money laundering case.

- David Sun

This brings the total amount of assets surrendered in the case to almost $2.8 billion so far, with $944 million in assets previously surrendered by 10 money launder-ers who were jailed and deported.

On Nov 18, the police said 15 of the 17 suspects who are on the run have been "dealt with" and have agreed to surrender their assets. They have also been barred from returning to Singapore.

In response to media queries, the police named the 15 as Su Yongcan, Wang Huoqiang, Su Fuxiang, Su Binghai, Wang Bingang, Su Shuiming, Su Shuijun, Ke Wendi, Wang Shuiting, Chen Zhiqiang, Liu liarong, Chen Peiyong, Zhao Dongying, Chen Mulin and Hu Chengmei.

Their lawyers had contacted the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) and agreed to surrender their assets in return for the withdrawal of the Interpol Red and Blue Notices against them.

Red Notices seek the location and arrest of a person, while a Blue Notice is to collect additional information about a person's identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation.

The police agreed to this in consultation with the AGC, which advised that it will be difficult to have the 17 foreign nationals extradited as their whereabouts are unknown and the evidence available may not be sufficient for extradition.

Investigations into the other two people on the run are ongoing, and their assets worth about $144.9 million remain seized or the subject of prohibition of disposal orders.

The police identified the two as Xu Haika and Xu Hainan, and said their lawyers have not made contact with the AGC, and so their assets will be dealt with under the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters Act, which was passed in August.