PANews reported on June 10 that Citigroup, DBS Group Holdings and other banks caught up in Singapore's biggest money laundering scandal are stepping up scrutiny of major clients and potential customers to avoid being affected by illicit capital flows, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Private bankers at several institutions are also receiving additional training to help them detect methods used by criminals to conceal their backgrounds and sources of funds, people familiar with the matter said.
Earlier news, in the largest money laundering case in Singapore involving 3 billion Singapore dollars, one of the defendants, Zhang Ruijin, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Five people have been convicted in this case so far. Zhang Ruijin was involved in money laundering of about 36 million yuan, the most among the defendants convicted so far, and his sentence was also the longest. Zhang Ruijin and 9 other defendants in the same case were arrested in August last year, and 5 of them have been convicted so far. Among them, Su Baolin was sentenced to 14 months in prison, Su Wenqiang and Wang Baosen were sentenced to 13 months respectively, and Su Haijin was sentenced to 14 months.