SG has become a cess pit for money laundering under the PAP's watch. In fact not enough was done to prevent it. What was the MAS stance on this ongoing saga? It seems the current government is patting themselves on the back as if doing a good job but not enough to prevent it.
Stories like this exposé, and the other a few days ago, really count of unravelling the dark and murky underbelly of so-called governments (governments anywhere in the world). But the fact that this exposé is concerned with the dark and murky underbelly of the notoriously autocratic regime of the one-party PAP regime under Lee Hsien Loong speaks volumes for those without the guts to speak out against the crookedness of such regimes and their so-called leadership. It does also reveal, with great timeliness, how the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship under the vile Xi Jinping has to smash down Singapore's doors to crack down on mainland Chinese crooks in their nefarious criminalities, in this case money-laundering from their old country.
But this phenomenon isn't anything new, as John Berthelsen will tell you. It's been going on for donkey's years. The first acts of money-laundering from mainland China entered the financial system of Hong Kong, then known as East Asia's foremost financial hub (well before Singapore chose to make a run of the same but following the Swiss model; the outright failure of Labuan to do the same; and, like all things Australian, Sydney, which simply didn't have the oomph to mount a challenge [policymaking in Australia remains a historical farce]).
But why did it take the Xi dictatorship this long to recognize the fact that money-laundering was happening right under its nose? Why has it sat on its hands -- until now? This leads me to suggest that elements of CCP hierarchy either knew of these money-laundering schemes or are involved in them. Cambodia is corruption paradise, like Malaysia and Indonesia. In fact, all of Southeast Asia. Black economies thrive in this region because its politicians allow them and because its politicians are involved in this racket (as in others). It's easy for Chinese dirty money to make a home in Cambodia. But nobody blinked when Chinese nationals were buying up property in Thailand. Not a single Thai politician asked the question. And no CCP head-honcho came to kick down Thai doors demanding action against Chinese criminals or criminal families.
Chinese money enters Malaysia, too, but I suspect on a much smaller scale. The undying art of racist politics, led by Malay -- falsely nationalist -- regimes would not have allowed the racial balance to tip more in local Chinese favour, where local Chinese are disliked, distrusted and even hated by Malays for the way they have accumulated wealth (often -- tired, old argument -- said to be at the expense of the Malays). It's about the only thing the Mala regime has been able to regulate. The same story, or just about, in Indonesia, with its own false pribumi nationalism, a weak and apparently democratic regime but so badly tainted with racism of old. The Philippines is another case study.
But one does wonder how the Singapore, Chinese-dominant dictatorship, fell asleep on the job. It dropped the ball when it claims time and again to be the most efficient and effective "government" in the region. There must be more to the story than just effective government or lousy regulatory system. What makes governments and regulatory systems ineffective or just lousy is its personnel. All of them, from the prime minister down (especially if it takes Xi's righthand man to fly into Singapore and shake the old cobwebs off the complacent Lee Hsien Loong (with his own intra-family power squabbles over the old man's wealth) and the dark underbelly of corruption in Singapore business (or Singapore Inc) and its officialdom. And don't forget the Singapore media (a big joke) continuing to live in the pockets of the PAP dictatorship. What other explanation is there?
Excellent points made. My hypothesis is that the CCP didn't do similar crackdowns on Chinese criminals and HNWIs who took capital flight out of Mainland China to say Cambodia or Thailand because these countries are seen to be largely within Chinese geopolitical influence (as opposed to Singapore which has been very aligned with the US of late). This could mean two things: Xi is comfortable with Chinese capital flight to these countries as he sees them as already friendly and pliable to the CCP, or Xi believes that it is easier for him to go after Chinese criminals and illicit wealth in these countries using extrajudicial means without the need to "do things properly" like send his foreign minister to visit them and shake the trees if you will.
Much of these Chinese HNWIs who have been caught in Singapore's money laundering dragnet now have apparently entered the Singaporean financial system during 2021 when there were still significant physical travel restrictions in place for them to leave China let alone enter Singapore. Money crossed borders and found willing and able agents and local fixers in any of the relevant industries; there's lots of online Chinese-language tabloid news and general scuttlebutt rumours now about how they were just buying up lots of expensive properties and assets in Singapore in hard cash wired over to Singapore without even so much as looking at them in person first like any one of us would before buying something. Alarm bells should have rung long ago. Why they didn't is going to be the next big question to ask, and I think it's a question that is going to be very uncomfortable for Singaporean authorities to answer.
It’s always refreshing to see how the world’s biggest criminals are happy to deposit their ill-gotten gains into those countries that (ostensibly) have the highest banking standards (Singapore, Switzerland etc)...the last thing they want is to have anyone stealing “their” money!
Once again John Berthelsen is the brave editor not afraid to say it like it is.
When John published my story, was the PMO afraid to tell him that the authorities had closed the case with NO INVESTIGATION claiming insufficient evidence, when there was a conflict of interest in the upper echelons?
Asian Sentinel is courageous
https://www.bankingonthetruth.com/post/is-the-singapore-establishment-a-bastion-of-integrity-or-a-master-illusionist
SG has become a cess pit for money laundering under the PAP's watch. In fact not enough was done to prevent it. What was the MAS stance on this ongoing saga? It seems the current government is patting themselves on the back as if doing a good job but not enough to prevent it.
As with many things in Singapore, the general attitude is "if there's money to earn, don't question too much. Act blur live longer."
Stories like this exposé, and the other a few days ago, really count of unravelling the dark and murky underbelly of so-called governments (governments anywhere in the world). But the fact that this exposé is concerned with the dark and murky underbelly of the notoriously autocratic regime of the one-party PAP regime under Lee Hsien Loong speaks volumes for those without the guts to speak out against the crookedness of such regimes and their so-called leadership. It does also reveal, with great timeliness, how the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship under the vile Xi Jinping has to smash down Singapore's doors to crack down on mainland Chinese crooks in their nefarious criminalities, in this case money-laundering from their old country.
But this phenomenon isn't anything new, as John Berthelsen will tell you. It's been going on for donkey's years. The first acts of money-laundering from mainland China entered the financial system of Hong Kong, then known as East Asia's foremost financial hub (well before Singapore chose to make a run of the same but following the Swiss model; the outright failure of Labuan to do the same; and, like all things Australian, Sydney, which simply didn't have the oomph to mount a challenge [policymaking in Australia remains a historical farce]).
But why did it take the Xi dictatorship this long to recognize the fact that money-laundering was happening right under its nose? Why has it sat on its hands -- until now? This leads me to suggest that elements of CCP hierarchy either knew of these money-laundering schemes or are involved in them. Cambodia is corruption paradise, like Malaysia and Indonesia. In fact, all of Southeast Asia. Black economies thrive in this region because its politicians allow them and because its politicians are involved in this racket (as in others). It's easy for Chinese dirty money to make a home in Cambodia. But nobody blinked when Chinese nationals were buying up property in Thailand. Not a single Thai politician asked the question. And no CCP head-honcho came to kick down Thai doors demanding action against Chinese criminals or criminal families.
Chinese money enters Malaysia, too, but I suspect on a much smaller scale. The undying art of racist politics, led by Malay -- falsely nationalist -- regimes would not have allowed the racial balance to tip more in local Chinese favour, where local Chinese are disliked, distrusted and even hated by Malays for the way they have accumulated wealth (often -- tired, old argument -- said to be at the expense of the Malays). It's about the only thing the Mala regime has been able to regulate. The same story, or just about, in Indonesia, with its own false pribumi nationalism, a weak and apparently democratic regime but so badly tainted with racism of old. The Philippines is another case study.
But one does wonder how the Singapore, Chinese-dominant dictatorship, fell asleep on the job. It dropped the ball when it claims time and again to be the most efficient and effective "government" in the region. There must be more to the story than just effective government or lousy regulatory system. What makes governments and regulatory systems ineffective or just lousy is its personnel. All of them, from the prime minister down (especially if it takes Xi's righthand man to fly into Singapore and shake the old cobwebs off the complacent Lee Hsien Loong (with his own intra-family power squabbles over the old man's wealth) and the dark underbelly of corruption in Singapore business (or Singapore Inc) and its officialdom. And don't forget the Singapore media (a big joke) continuing to live in the pockets of the PAP dictatorship. What other explanation is there?
Excellent points made. My hypothesis is that the CCP didn't do similar crackdowns on Chinese criminals and HNWIs who took capital flight out of Mainland China to say Cambodia or Thailand because these countries are seen to be largely within Chinese geopolitical influence (as opposed to Singapore which has been very aligned with the US of late). This could mean two things: Xi is comfortable with Chinese capital flight to these countries as he sees them as already friendly and pliable to the CCP, or Xi believes that it is easier for him to go after Chinese criminals and illicit wealth in these countries using extrajudicial means without the need to "do things properly" like send his foreign minister to visit them and shake the trees if you will.
Much of these Chinese HNWIs who have been caught in Singapore's money laundering dragnet now have apparently entered the Singaporean financial system during 2021 when there were still significant physical travel restrictions in place for them to leave China let alone enter Singapore. Money crossed borders and found willing and able agents and local fixers in any of the relevant industries; there's lots of online Chinese-language tabloid news and general scuttlebutt rumours now about how they were just buying up lots of expensive properties and assets in Singapore in hard cash wired over to Singapore without even so much as looking at them in person first like any one of us would before buying something. Alarm bells should have rung long ago. Why they didn't is going to be the next big question to ask, and I think it's a question that is going to be very uncomfortable for Singaporean authorities to answer.
It’s always refreshing to see how the world’s biggest criminals are happy to deposit their ill-gotten gains into those countries that (ostensibly) have the highest banking standards (Singapore, Switzerland etc)...the last thing they want is to have anyone stealing “their” money!
Once again John Berthelsen is the brave editor not afraid to say it like it is.
When John published my story, was the PMO afraid to tell him that the authorities had closed the case with NO INVESTIGATION claiming insufficient evidence, when there was a conflict of interest in the upper echelons?
https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/australian-woman-fight-prove-singapore-fraud
citizens pay taxed under duress