Addressing questions surrounding the S$2.8 billion money laundering case in Singapore, the Second Minister for Home Affairs (MHA) Josephine Teo warned that anyone found complicit in the wrongdoing related to the money laundering case will be dealt with according to the law, regardless of their immigration status or whether they are Singapore citizens.

Nine men and one woman, aged 31 to 44, were arrested in an island-wide operation to crack down on a transnational money laundering syndicate.

Suspects were on employment passes and dependent's passes

These 10 individuals hold employment passes and dependant's passes, Teo said.

She shared that none of these individuals were on Interpol's Red Notice at the time of their application.

She also pointed out that the Singapore Police Force has been "casting its net much wider".

Investigations and interviews are ongoing for many more people, including Singaporeans, permanent residents, and those on different types of immigration passes, she added.

"Anyone who is found complicit in the wrong after ongoing investigations will be dealt with in accordance with the law, regardless of their immigration status or whether they are Singapore citizens."

Frameworks in place to assess applications for work passes and other long-term immigration facilities

Teo explained that applicants are screened against a database of blacklisted individuals, and data analytics are used to identify and scrutinise higher-risk applications.

"Foreigners convicted of an offence in Singapore may be deported from Singapore and, in some cases, banned permanently."

When asked if Singapore worked with foreign governments to verify information provided by applicants, Teo shared that agencies do so when they have suspicions. Singapore's overseas missions also help to verify the authenticity of the documents.

However, conducting verification checks for all applications is impossible with the volume of applications.

She added, "No screening process is foolproof. We will review how to tighten our verification checks at various points."

Teo stated that Singapore should be sensible as most people are not illegal money launderers or criminals.

"If we make the rules too tight, then it is the vast majority of innocent applicants who will be unnecessarily penalised. The crooks will still try to find a way around the rules.

So we need rules, we need to apply them, but let us be careful about knee-jerk reactions which may make our business environment unfriendly.

What we need are rules which are internationally accepted and workable. Our task is to minimise the risks and increase our ability to catch these persons without affecting the majority of proper, legal transactions."

Top photo via MCI/YouTube