THREE CONVICTED CHINESE MONEY LAUNDERERS WITH EAST CARIBBEAN CBI PASSPORTS DEPORTED FROM SINGAPORE

If you were wondering what happened to those ten Chinese money launderers who were convicted in Singapore in a massive $3bn scandal, three of them, all holders of East Caribbean Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports for St. Kitts & Dominica, were deported to Cambodia on June 15. It seems that they also had purchased Cambodian passports, and that is apparently the closest jurisdiction which would accept them. They have been barred by Singaporean authorities from ever returning there.

Several other Chinese criminals, all with East Caribbean CBI passports, have been arrested and charged with various crimes recently, in the United States and the United Kingdom. These arrests have been cited by the plaintiffs in the recently filed RICO Complaint, now pending against a number of individuals in St. Kitts and St. Lucia, alleging corruption and violation of CBI laws, in a case where the alleged abuse of Citizenship by Investment passports by a Chinese company and Chinese nationals has set off fireworks in the CBI industry.

Whether the deportation of CBI passport holders from the East Caribbean states who commit crimes elsewhere while using those passports, is the shape of things to come we cannot say, but the Singaporean action points to the widespread use of CBI passports by international criminals, especially money launderers, to facilitate their illegal operations. Should these identity documents being criminally abused be confiscated and summarily destroyed by arresting authorities, to avoid subsequent misuse in another jurisdiction? we cannot say, but something clearly must be done.