$3b money laundering case: Conveyancing lawyer charged with forgery over property purchase
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 17 Jul 2026
Author: Claudia Tan
Chan I-Fei Julia was charged with forgery on July 16.
A conveyancing lawyer was charged with forgery on July 16, with court documents linking her alleged actions to an associate of one of the 10 foreigners convicted in the $3 billion money laundering case.
Chan I-Fei Julia, 61, is said to have abetted Lim Lai Hong to create a false document that was signed by Chen Lingling some time around Dec 14, 2023.
The document was related to Chen’s purchase of a property at South Beach Residences at 28 Beach Road.
Court documents did not provide any information about Lim and Chen.
Checks by The Straits Times showed that Chen was previously identified by the authorities as one of the associates of the 10 foreigners convicted in the money laundering case.
In a statement on July 16, the police said that Chan, who is from Sterling Law, had acted as the conveyancing lawyer for the purchase of a commercial property in Amoy Street and a residential unit located at South Beach Residences.
“These properties were purchased by the spouse of Su Yongcan, who is one of the absconded foreign nationals investigated by the police in the major anti-money laundering case,” the police said.
They added that she had allegedly conspired with an employee of the law firm to forge a “Know Your Client” form in December 2023 in the purchase of the unit at South Beach Residences.
The form is a due diligence questionnaire used by financial, legal and insurance institutions as part of anti-money laundering obligations.
The case against Chan, who was charged with one count of abetment by conspiracy to commit forgery, will be mentioned again on Aug 13.
For forgery, an offender can be jailed for up to four years, fined, or both.
The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) had in 2025 taken four law firms and one lawyer to task for anti-money laundering breaches over the purchase of properties in connection with the $3 billion money laundering case.
It followed inquiries by the Director of Legal Services (DLS), which is a department under MinLaw that oversees the regulation of all law practice entities and the registration of foreign lawyers in Singapore.
The DLS had ordered one law practice to pay a financial penalty of $30,000 and a second law firm to pay $100,000, the maximum penalty.
A third law practice was issued a statutory notice of the intention to order it to pay a financial penalty of $70,000.
DLS also privately reprimanded a fourth law practice, and referred one lawyer to the Law Society of Singapore for disciplinary action.
The ministry had issued in June 2025 a guidance note to the legal industry to remind law practices and lawyers of their responsibilities under their statutory anti-money laundering obligations.
They include analysing client risk, identifying material red flags, establishing a client’s source of wealth and the timeline for filing a suspicious transaction report (STR).
All law practices and lawyers are subject to anti-money laundering obligations under the Legal Profession Act.
MinLaw said then that a law practice or lawyer also must file an STR with the police if they suspect the client may be engaged in money laundering.
Jail sentence
In a related matter, a man who cooked up financial figures for shell companies linked to Singapore’s largest money laundering case was on July 16 sentenced to 32 weeks’ jail for conspiring to cheat the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).
Wang Junjie, the former owner of a corporate services firm, was charged in January 2025 with 15 offences, including forgery, falsification of accounts and using forged documents as genuine copies.
The 43-year-old had pleaded guilty on June 3 to two charges.
They include one for conspiring with Su Haijin, one of the 10 foreigners convicted in the case, to make false representations to IRAS about the financials for Yihao Cyber Technologies, a Singapore-registered firm owned by the foreign national.
The second charge was for failing to act honestly in the discharge of his duties as Yihao’s director. The remaining 13 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Su Haijin had engaged Wang to provide corporate services for Yihao around Oct 19, 2018.
Wang later conspired with Su Haijin to falsify Yihao’s financial records for the financial years from 2019 to 2022.
Wang then used the falsified financials to make false representations to IRAS and the Ministry of Manpower.
“He also forged a software development agreement between Yihao and SG-Gree, which was submitted by Su Haijin to DBS Bank Limited to facilitate a bank account opening for Yihao,” said the police.
SG-Gree is partially owned by both Su Haijin and Su Baolin, another foreigner convicted in the money laundering case.
Police said Wang had similarly engaged in a conspiracy with Su Baolin to make false representations to IRAS about the financial records of Xinbao Investment Holdings for the financial years from 2019 to 2021.
He also submitted false documents to OCBC Bank in response to the bank’s queries on certain transactions. Xinbao was a Singapore-registered firm linked to Su Baolin.
In court, Wang admitted that Yihao Cyber had no genuine sources of revenue in Singapore and did not employ any staff.
He said Su Haijin had told him that he needed the appearance of having a profitable business in Singapore as he was looking to increase his chances of becoming a permanent resident.
Commercial Affairs Department director Peggy Pao said professional intermediaries such as corporate service providers and conveyance law firms are important gatekeepers of Singapore’s financial system.
She said they must adhere to the compliance systems to detect and report criminal funds.
“Those who help clients circumvent due diligence processes or who help clients forge documents must be dealt with robustly under our laws,” she added.
The 10 foreigners directly involved in the money laundering case, one of the worst in Singapore, were in 2024 sentenced to between 13 and 17 months’ jail on charges relating to money laundering, fraud and forgery.
All of them were deported and barred from re-entering Singapore after they served their jail terms.
Wang Qiming, a former bank employee who helped forge documents to conceal Su Baolin’s source of funds, was sentenced to two years’ jail in October 2025 for forgery and money laundering offences.
Liew Yik Kit, 42, the personal driver of Su Binghai, was sentenced to three months’ jail in June 2025 for lying to the police about his boss’ luxury cars that were worth $8.3 million.
Su Binghai was among 17 suspects who evaded arrest during the police operation in August 2023.
Liew had driven Su Binghai out of Singapore via Tuas Checkpoint on the day police conducted multiple raids against the 10 foreigners.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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