Second Chinese National Banker Jailed in Singapore's $3B Money Laundering Case

 

A second financial professional has been sentenced to prison for their involvement in Singapore's largest money laundering case, marking continued legal repercussions in the extensive $3 billion probe. Liu Kai, a 36-year-old Chinese national and former relationship manager at Swiss private bank Julius Baer, received a four-month jail sentence on October 24th after pleading guilty to forgery charges.

The conviction centers on Liu's actions in November 2020, when he assisted Chinese national Lin Baoying in submitting a falsified tax document. Lin, who holds passports from Cambodia, Dominica, and Turkey, was the only female among the ten foreign nationals convicted in the massive money laundering investigation and had previously been sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment in May 2024.

Court proceedings revealed that the forged document Liu facilitated was specifically intended to help Lin establish a bank account in Switzerland. Evidence presented showed that Liu received multiple versions of the falsified tax document from Lin before ultimately submitting the final forged version to the banking institution. This deliberate act of document manipulation enabled the circumvention of standard banking compliance procedures.

Liu's sentencing follows closely after another banking professional received punishment in the same widespread case. On October 23rd, former Citibank employee Wang Qiming was sentenced to two years imprisonment for his more extensive role in the money laundering operation. Wang faced conviction on two counts of forgery, one count of money laundering, and an additional charge for obstruction of justice.

The contrast between the two sentences reflects the differing levels of involvement between the bankers. While Liu assisted with a single forged document for one client, Wang maintained relationships with three of the convicted money launderers—Vang Shuiming, Su Haijin, and Su Baolin—and engaged in multiple forgeries to conceal fund sources. Wang's activities included creating false remittance receipts for several clients before his scheme was uncovered by Citibank's anti-money laundering team, which had raised questions about substantial deposits into the accounts he managed.

Singapore's legal framework treats forgery offenses with significant severity, allowing for imprisonment of up to ten years in addition to substantial financial penalties. The consecutive sentencing of banking professionals in this high-profile case demonstrates the authorities' commitment to holding all participants in money laundering schemes accountable, including those in professional positions who enable such activities through document fraud and compliance violations.