4.4 billion US dollars seized in criminal transactions in Singapore

Last Updated on June 27, 2024 9:31 am

The Singapore government has seized US$4.4 billion (S$6 billion) worth of illegal assets related to crime and money laundering. Almost half of these illegal assets were seized from last year’s record financial scandals.
Bloomberg reported this information in a report on Wednesday (June 26).

These assets have been seized between January 2019 and June 2024. Of these sums, 41.6 million Singapore dollars have been returned to victims. And 100 million Singapore dollars have been confiscated in favor of the state. These facts emerged in a report published by the country’s government on Wednesday (June 26).

Singapore, a country in Southeast Asia, is known as a country with a clean image around the world. But last year there was a major financial scandal in the country. That year alone, 3 billion Singapore dollars were smuggled.

After such a terrible incident, the authorities of Singapore are shaken. Last year alone, several operations were conducted as part of money laundering investigations. Singapore’s operation was one of the largest in the world so far against money laundering. Homes, cars and luxury goods were seized during the raid. Besides, several foreigners were also arrested.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said at an event today, “As an international financial and trading center, we understand that we are at greater risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.” However, we are determined to take the necessary measures to address such risks and maintain Singapore’s reputation as a trusted financial centre.