Citizenship for sale: Singapore’s US$1.3 billion money laundering probe exposes Chinese criminals’ paid-for passports

Many of the arrested Chinese suspects had foreign passports from the likes of Cambodia and Vanuatu, where citizenship can cost as little as US$130,000

An overseas citizenship can help wanted criminals – including from China – vanish, rebrand and get back to their illicit deeds using a new identity

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A courtroom sketch of the 10 foreigners accused of being involved in a major money laundering operation in Singapore (clockwise from top left) Su Baolin, Su Haijin, Chen Qingyuan, Su Wenqiang, Lin Baoying, Zhang Ruijin, Wang Dehai, Su Jianfeng, Vang Shuiming and Wang Baosen. Photo: The Straits Times Illustrations via Reuters

Published: 9:30am, 16 Sep 2023Updated: 3:11pm, 16 Sep 2023

Chinese criminals have a new must-have in their villains’ tool kits to cross borders, evade jail and wash the billions of dollars sucked up from phone scams, online gambling and pyramid schemes across Asia: passports from Cambodia, Cyprus, and even the tiny South Pacific island of Vanuatu.

This “citizenship for sale” phenomenon has come under renewed scrutiny since Singapore’s August 15 seizure of US$1.3 billion in assets – and arrest of 10 Chinese suspects holding a cornucopia of other nationalities – in a massive money-laundering probe.

The scandal has pulled in top banks, rattling regulators over the nature of the cash in Singapore’s financial system, as details of nominee companies and alleged criminal affiliations are drip-fed to a public unused to the city state being cast as a criminal haven.

The Marina Bay Financial District in Singapore. The massive money-laundering scandal has pulled in top banks , rattling regulators over the nature of the cash in Singapore’s financial system. Photo: Bloomberg

It has also exposed how holding an overseas citizenship can help wanted criminals – many from China – vanish, rebrand and get back to their nefarious deeds under a new identity.

Seven of the group arrested in Singapore had foreign passports: two from Cyprus, three from Cambodia, one from Turkey and one from Vanuatu. Extra travel documents for the suspects were also found among the Rolex watches, jewellery and supercars seized by police, thought to have been issued by the likes of Dominica and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

“Easy access to citizenship and passports has allowed individuals to move and migrate, particularly in the Asean region,” Jeremy Douglas, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific told This Week in Asia.

“And it is noticeable many are using different names, some a different date of birth, which can help clear border checks where original names may be flagged … and it helps with corporate registrations and obfuscating ownership.”