Singapore Says It Has Seized $4.4 Billion in Dirty Money Since 2019

Singapore has seized S$6 billion ($4.4 billion) linked to criminal and money laundering activities over the past five years, of which about half of these illicit assets were from last year’s record scandal.

Of the amount that was confiscated between January 2019 and June 2024, some S$416 million has been returned to victims while S$1 billion has been forfeited to the state, according to a report released Wednesday by the government. In last year’s S$3 billion money laundering case, about S$944 million has already been forfeited to the state, the report stated.

Authorities in the city-state have observed that money laundering activities are increasingly sophisticated, involving swift movement of large sums of illicit funds and affecting many victims across borders, according to the report that sets out the country’s approach toward recovering illicit assets.

Read More: A Wave of Scandals Is Testing the Singaporean Government’s Ability to Take Criticism

“Even the most stringent anti-money laundering regimes can be circumvented by determined criminals who will continuously search for gaps to exploit,” Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said at the opening of the Financial Action Task Force Plenary. Still, measures should not be over-zealous either and stifle legitimate investments, he added.

The global watchdog, which is meeting in Singapore this week, is poised to add Venezuela and Monaco to its “gray list” for not making sufficient progress to stem illicit financial flows.

Among ongoing measures to tackle money laundering risks, the city-state has been demanding more information from family offices and hedge funds while stepping up closures of dormant firms, Bloomberg News has reported. Banks in the financial hub are also ramping up scrutiny of their wealthy customers and potential clients to avoid exposure to illicit flows, people familiar with the matter have said.