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A former Citibank relationship manager pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in jail on Thursday in connection with helping a Chinese gang launder money into Singapore in one of the city-state’s biggest financial scandals.
Wang Qiming was the first financial services professional to be convicted of forgery over his involvement in the scheme, in which S$3bn ($2.3bn) of funds from illegal gambling operations flowed into Singapore.
Wang, a Chinese national who had worked at the US bank for eight months, admitted to forging documents in an attempt to trick Citi’s compliance staff over the source of funds.
Liu Kai, another former banker who used to work at Swiss lender Julius Baer, is expected to plead guilty to forgery on Friday.
Citi and Julius Baer were among nine financial institutions fined by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in July over the money-laundering case. The collective penalty of S$27.5mn was the second-largest ever doled out by the regulator.
The case erupted two years ago when Singapore police conducted a series of dawn raids and arrested 10 people, seizing a horde of luxury jewellery, handbags and cars.
The scandal led to tighter anti-money laundering checks at banks and family offices, which were used to facilitate the money-laundering scheme. It also exposed flaws in the compliance procedures at the banks involved.
Wang worked at Citi from October 2020 to August 2021 and set up accounts for several of the money launderers. His lawyer said he was introduced to one of central figures in the gang — Su Baolin, who ran illegal gambling sites in Myanmar — through a friend of his father’s in China.
Wang admitted to forging documents including remittance receipts as proof of where his clients’ funds had come from after Citi’s compliance team raised concerns.
His lawyer said Wang did not benefit financially from his involvement in the fraud, apart from receiving up to S$800 in commission for each client account he set up, which he was prepared to pay back.
But Singapore state court judge Chay Yuen Fatt rejected the appeal for mitigation in his sentencing, saying Wang abused his position of trust and knowledge of Citi’s anti-money laundering processes.
“The accused has blighted the reputation of the banking industry,” Chay said.
Citi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
