Man with most number of charges forfeits 180 million in assets seize

Vang Shuiming jailed after pleading guilty; he will be deported after serving sentence

- Christine Tan and Wong Shiying

The accused in Singapore's $3 billion money laundering case who faced the most number of charges has also forfeited the most amount of assets seized to the state.

Vang Shuiming, 43, was sentenced to 13 months and six weeks' jail after pleading guilty on May 14 to two counts of money laundering and one count of submitting a forged document to a bank.

Nineteen other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Vang agreed to forfeit about $180 million of the more than $199 million worth of assets, cash, vehicles, properties and luxury items belonging to him and his wife which were seized by the police.

This is the highest amount forfeited by an accused person in this case, so far.

Five others convicted had forfeited between $5.9 million and $165 million in assets.

Vang forfeited about $122 million in bank, portfolio and wealth accounts, 15 properties worth $29.6 million in total, and three luxury cars a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Toyota Alphard and a Bentley Flying Spur worth $3.38 million in all.

Other items include eight watches worth $17.4 million in total, from brands such as Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, Franck Muller and Chopard, and a Kawai crystal grand piano worth $240,000.

Also known as Wang Shuiming, the Turkish national who is originally from China is one of 10 foreigners arrested in a money laundering probe in August 2023 that saw more than $3 billion in cash and assets seized.

Vang faced 22 charges in total four counts of money laundering and 18 counts of submitting forged financial documents to banks.

Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh told the court that in 2021, Vang arranged for HK$229 million (S$39.6 million) to be remitted from Indonesia to his Citibank Singapore account.