SINGAPORE'S MERE THIRTEEN MONTH SENTENCE FOR MONEY LAUNDERING IN TWO BILLION DOLLAR CASE IS NO DETERRENT WHATSOEVER

Remember that recent USD$2.2bn money laundering scandal in Singapore, where Chinese nationals using passports from Cambodia and Vanuatu, as well as a couple of cooperating European jurisdictions, moved the proceeds of crime from illegal online Chinese gambling websites through the country's banks with impunity? The first defendant to be sentenced in that case just received a paltry thirteen months for his extensive involvement. BTW, he was caught with over six million dollars in assets, which represented his net profits from the illicit operation.

What's wrong with this picture? How will Singaporean authorities ever deter others from participation in laundering operations, we ask? This sentence neither demonstrates the seriousness of the many crimes the defendant engaged in, nor takes him out of circulation for a lengthy period of time. Whether he relocates to another country after his deportation, and simply picks up where he left off, we cannot say, but part of the purpose of sentencing is to discourage him from recidivism. He will be out of prison in a heartbeat. Career criminal with a slap on the wrist.

This sentence will not deter anyone from seriously considering participation in a money laundering scheme. Singapore, which metes out the death penalty for narcotics trafficking, should understand that money laundering offenders also represent a clear and present danger to the national interest, and sentence violators to a lengthy term of imprisonment.