CAMBODIAN passport holder Chen Qingyuan, one of the 10 foreign nationals involved in the S$3 billion money laundering case in Singapore, was on Tuesday (Feb 20) slapped with six new charges.
The new charges are related to forgery and engaging in a conspiracy to cheat Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart).
Two of the charges stated that Chen had in September 2021 instigated one Yin Hang Liu Shui Dian Hua to forge electronic records to show StanChart that Wang Qiujiao, Chen’s purported girlfriend, had legitimate sources of her wealth.
This was after the bank had requested information in or around August 2021 about fund flows into Wang’s StanChart bank account amounting to about S$3 million and US$100,000.
The forged documents include a personal income tax statement dated Sep 10, 2021, issued by China’s tax authority, as well as a February 2020 income certificate from Zi Qinghua, a company in China.
Another two charges noted that in July 2021, Chen had allegedly instigated one Yin Hang Liu Shui Dian Hua to forge income statements from another two China companies, Sunshine Coast and Xiamen Yihong, with the intention to commit fraud.
The last two new charges alleged that Chen had engaged in a conspiracy with Wang and submitted the income certificates of Sunshine Coast and Xiamen Yihong to StanChart in December 2021.
These new charges bring the total number faced by Chen to 10. In August last year, Chen, who also holds passports from Dominica and China, was slapped with four charges related to money laundering involving at least S$8 million in assets.
Chen was arrested at his condominium on Leonie Hill Road during an islandwide anti-money laundering blitz that also nabbed nine other foreign nationals.
More than S$20 million worth of his assets were seized or issued prohibition of disposal orders, which means they cannot be sold.
Chen has been in remand for over six months. He was denied bail in November on the grounds that he was a flight risk, has tenuous roots in Singapore and is purportedly already wanted in China on fraud charges.
The investigating officer in his case had also noted in an affidavit that Chen has substantial wealth in multiple jurisdictions overseas, including links to a casino business in Cambodia, as well as high-end clubs and property in Thailand.
Chen will next appear in court on Wednesday for a pre-trial conference.
