Following the case of a money laundering offender who was deported from Singapore to Cambodia and subsequently expelled by the latter, Members of Parliament (MPs) had thoughts on the matter.

The 45-year-old Chinese national was involved in a S$3 billion money laundering case involving 10 accused persons. He was deported in June 2024 and stayed in Cambodia for a little over a month before being expelled.

On Aug. 6, in parliament, Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam was asked about the government's stance on deporting foreigners.

He replied, "The short answer is there is no such standard protocol."

Here's the long answer.

No standard protocol

Shanmugam said foreigners being deported can leave for any country to which their passports allow them to travel.

The foreign country may then choose to allow or disallow their entry or expel the person afterwards.

"And that's the way we treat these persons," Shanmugam stated. He said it was "no different from any other traveller".

Noting Workers' Party (WP) MP Sylvia Lim's questions about the money laundering case over different parliamentary sessions, he clarified that they did not consult Cambodian authorities before deporting the offender.

He shared the government's general position on this — that even if such discussions take place, they should not be disclosed.

"It's not in public interest to disclose it, because there are a variety of reasons why we may be in touch with foreign governments, and likewise, we may want people to be deported from foreign governments as long as the law allows it, and we sometimes will not want that publicly disclosed upfront.

Later on, the facts may come out, otherwise others who are collaborating with such persons of interest may then get wind."

They can choose

Lim pointed out that offenders might choose their destination countries with jurisdictions that are more favourable to their cases to avoid prosecution.

She indicated that this renders Singapore a certain responsibility to step in.

However, Shanmugam said, "Offenders can choose to go to where they want to go."

Don't judge others

"In the first place," Shanmugam went on, offenders who committed crimes in Singapore would have had already served time here.

"We take this very seriously, but it is wishful thinking to think that every other country will take the same approach, or that we can control how other countries can or cannot operationalise their legal position.

If you were to ask any country, they will all tell you that they take it very seriously, and we should not be making those value judgments."

Rather than engage in this "back-and-forth," Shanmugam reminded Lim that the government amended its legislation in 2023.

The law, once in effect, will let Singapore decide where to deport such offenders.

"But the only consideration cannot be what we think of the different legal systems. There has got to be a multiple set of considerations," he concluded.

Top images via MDDI and Vanna Phon/Unsplash