SINGAPORE – One of the 10 foreigners in the $3 billion money laundering case received six more charges on April 11, five days before he is scheduled to plead guilty.
Chinese national Wang Baosen, 32, was given one charge of lying to the authorities during investigations, one charge of abetting the use of a forged document, two additional charges of money laundering, and two charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.
Wang, who has been remanded for eight months since his arrest on Aug 15, previously faced two money laundering charges here relating to money from illegal remote gambling. He now faces eight charges in total.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Foo Shi Hao told the court that the prosecution has communicated a plead guilty offer of between 13 and 15 months’ jail in total.
Wang’s lawyer, Mr Favian Kang from Adelphi Law Chambers, confirmed to District Judge James Elisha Lee that his client still intends to plead guilty on April 16.
Wang allegedly lied four times to a Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) officer between Aug 16 and Oct 18, 2023, about the source of his assets.
Among other false statements, Wang purportedly claimed that a unit at Park Nova condominium in Tomlinson Road had been paid for by his wife’s ex-boyfriend.
He also allegedly told the police that monies in several bank accounts were loan repayments from his and his wife’s friends.
Wang allegedly instigated his wife, He Huifang, to submit a forged loan agreement to HSBC on May 25, 2023, as a supporting document for him receiving $599,965 in an HSBC bank account.
This sum was alleged proceeds from illegal remote gambling. Wang was charged with possessing the money, and for using another $1.4 million in criminal proceeds to pay 10 per cent of the purchase price of the Park Nova unit on March 30, 2022.
Another accused person in the case, Turkish national Vang Shuiming, 43, allegedly financed one condominium unit at Park Nova, along with 10 condominium units at Canninghill Piers.
Wang also allegedly made a false statement in 2019 while applying for a work pass, claiming he would be employed by a company named Tonta as an assistant marketing manager.
Two years later, in 2021, while he was in the Philippines, he purportedly instructed a person in Singapore, named as Tan Chee Wan or “Clarence” in court documents, to renew his S Pass by claiming that he would continue to be employed by Tonta in the same role.
Appearing in court via video-link, Wang was expressionless as the new charges were handed down.
Wang, who owns China and Vanuatu passports, had tried to secure and was denied bail twice.
At a bail mention in September 2023, a CAD officer revealed in an affidavit that a company was set up for the main purpose of helping Wang’s wife obtain an employment pass in Singapore.
The officer said Wang holds a dependant’s pass linked to He’s supposed employment in Singapore.
Wang said in his affidavit that the couple, along with their two daughters, moved to Singapore in 2022.
His relatives, including his mother, brother and niece, were denied passes to enter and remain in Singapore after his arrest.
Wang previously told the police that he has overseas sources of income, including one million yuan (S$191,000) of profits from his family’s tea plantation business in China between 2019 and 2023.
The prosecution said in November 2023 that Wang had earlier admitted he previously worked with his cousin Wang Bingang at Hong Li International Entertainment, an illegal remote gambling site.
Assets worth more than $18 million have been seized or been subjected to prohibition of disposal orders relating to Wang Baosen’s case. The orders mean that they cannot be sold by him.
The assets include a black Toyota Alphard worth $284,000, more than $3.3 million in four bank accounts, and one property worth $14.76 million.