From the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, December 22, 2023:
The founder of an Asian private equity firm has disappeared from his Singapore home and workplace as police sought to question him in connection to an alleged $2-billion money laundering ring busted in August this year, a Straits Times/OCCRP investigation has found.
Su Binghai, an entrepreneur of Chinese origin, is a “person of interest” in an ongoing investigation into the alleged laundering ring, a source familiar with the case told the Straits Times.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide further details. Su Binghai has not been formally named as a suspect, which does not happen in Singapore until after an arrest.
Corporate registry data shows that Su Binghai founded the private equity outfit New Future International in 2017. He became a co-owner of the firm the following year along with Wang Dehai, one of 10 people arrested by Singapore police during the bust on August 15.
Two other New Future International directors, Su Bingwang and Su Fuxiang, are also “persons of interest,” said the source, without adding details. (It is not clear if the three Sus are part of the same family, but the three often cited the same residential address in their Hong Kong corporate filings.)
None of the Sus could be reached for comment.
Singapore’s August raids on the alleged money laundering ring sent shockwaves through the country’s political elite, and have raised questions about how lax regulations and an easily exploited residency program have contributed to a flood of dirty money into the Southeast Asian financial hub. Most of those arrested lived in upmarket areas, and many belonged to prestigious golf clubs.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Su Binghai’s New Future has a Singapore-based offshoot and multiple subsidiaries. The company maintains offices in both cities and its website showcases a portfolio of countries and industries in which the company says it invests, though it does not provide details and reporters could find no public record of any specific investments it has made. Police have not said that New Future is subject to investigation.
The owners of New Future have been obscured since 2019, when its ownership entity was shifted from Hong Kong to the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven with high levels of corporate secrecy.
Su Binghai, who remains a director of New Future, holds multiple passports and an entree into elite social circles in Hong Kong and Singapore. He, Su Bingwang, and Su Fuxiang, each own tens of millions of dollars worth of property around the world.
When a Straits Times reporter visited Su Binghai’s Singapore residence this month, a domestic worker said that more than 10 uniformed police had visited the property in September, just weeks after the raids, looking for her employer. But Su Binghai and his wife had already left the home and did not say where they were going or when they would return, she added. The worker identified Su Binghai from a photo and confirmed he was her boss.
Another domestic worker answered the phone at a Dubai number registered to Su Binghai, and told OCCRP that “Mr Su” was not there. She was unable to provide information on his whereabouts.
Like Su Binghai, the two other New Future directors suddenly left their Singapore homes and workplaces in September, two colleagues and a neighbor told the Straits Times. (Singapore’s police did not respond to requests for comment about the Sus’ links to Wang Dehai or whether they had left the country.)
The plush home of one of the company’s directors, Su Bingwang, is located on Singapore’s Rochalie Drive, close to embassies and other grand homes. When the Straits Times visited this month, it was empty.
A neighbor confirmed that a Su Bingwang had lived there for about a year, and added that movers had turned up in September to remove items from the home. The home is currently being advertised on real estate websites as a rental for $33,800 per month.
When the Straits Times visited New Future’s Singapore office on December 1, a staff member asked unprompted if the reporter was there about “the money laundering case.”....
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