Two former bankers at Citigroup Inc. and Julius Baer Group Ltd. are set to plead guilty for their alleged roles in facilitating illicit fund transfers linked to Singapore’s largest money-laundering scandal, Bloomberg reports.
Wang Qiming, a former relationship manager at Citibank Singapore, is expected to appear in court Thursday, while former Julius Baer banker Liu Kai is scheduled for Friday, according to the Singapore Courts’ website. The two cases are closely watched as a measure of the effectiveness of banking safeguards against dirty money flows.
The S$3 billion ($2.3 billion) scandal, which surfaced two years ago, involved illegal gambling and unlicensed lending in China. The 10 individuals convicted held over S$370 million across more than a dozen financial institutions. Wang and Liu are the only financial professionals charged in connection with the case.
Wang, 26 at the time of his 2024 charges, faced 10 counts including forging documents to defraud Citibank and obstruction of justice for deleting WhatsApp messages. Liu, 35 at the time of his charges, allegedly assisted a money launderer in submitting a forged Chinese tax document in 2020 to open a Swiss bank account—a plan that never materialized. Liu later moved to Goldman Sachs Singapore but has since left the firm.
Both bankers were part of Mandarin-speaking teams competing to attract wealthy Chinese clients as global banks sought to expand in Singapore, Bloomberg reported.
The case has had broad repercussions for Singapore’s banking sector. Local units of Citigroup and Julius Baer, among seven other financial firms, were fined by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for regulatory lapses tied to the scandal. Citigroup was fined S$2.6 million and Julius Baer S$2.4 million. The 10 individuals arrested in 2023 received jail sentences of 13 to 17 months and were deported after serving their terms.
