Singaporean Authorities to Seize $735 Million in Money Laundering Case
Law enforcement agencies in Singapore are cracking down on a major money laundering scheme. The police officials and investigators have managed to apprehend the key figures in a $735 million scam involving virtual currencies.
According to the official statement, the police have arrested 10 individuals hailing from 10 different nations. At the same time, the police have also confiscated 11 documents that contain important details related to these illegal dealings.
Some of the arrested individuals hold a Chinese passport. Police have charged the group with various financial crimes changes such as money laundering, resistance to arrest, and forgery. Furthermore, police have also taken possession of 94 plots and 50 vehicles associated with the group.
The estimated value of the fixed assets is estimated to be around $815 million which excludes the crypto reserves. In addition, police officials have seized 35 bank accounts that contained aggregate fiat reserve of up to $110 million related to the group and their scam operations.
MAS Reintroduces AML Compliance
The monetary authority of Singapore or MAS issued a new statement on Monday speaking on the matter of crypto regulation. The regulatory agency has maintained that it is planning to increase the detection requirements in the form of Anti-money laundering measures.
On this account, the regulators are planning to work in tandem with the crypto industry members. Ho Hern Shin is the deputy managing director at MAS. Speaking to the media he claimed that the case in question has assured that Singapore is vulnerable to financial terrorism and money laundering problems.
At the same time, the country has mandated that the regulators continued to cooperate with the crypto management to strengthen their immunity against such attacks. Singapore makes up a big chunk of the Asian market share within the crypto sector. To this effect, the country enforced the latest changes in its regulatory framework governing the crypto industry on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, MAS has directed the agency budget worth $150 million on fintech and innovation programs to track the development of Web3 technology over the course of the next 3 years. The rules introduced this week by MAS are mostly directed towards regulating stablecoins governance and issuance under their jurisdiction.
MAS has issued new regulatory clarity this week concerning stablecoins. The regulatory agency collected feedback from the public in October 2022. Under the new regulations, MAS defined stablecoins as digital payment tokens that retain a constant value much like fiat currencies.
At the same time, MAS has maintained that stablecoins are used as a viable medium of exchange and support on-chain digital currency trading. This regulatory guideline is applicable to single-currency stablecoins or SCS that are pegged to the Singaporean fiat or other paperbacks hailing from G10 nations.
The updated amendments in the regulatory framework have introduced new regulatory guidelines such as value stability, capital minimum base, par redemption, and disclosure. All stablecoin issuers operating in Singapore are to comply with the new regulatory requirements.
Without the compliance of all aforementioned requirements, MAS is not going to recognize or register stablecoin issuers. At the same time, falsely advertising a stablecoin as MAS-regulated can lead to legal penalties in accordance with the changes made in the MAS charter.
At the same time, misrepresentation can also lead to the addition of the violating parties to the Investor Alert Blacklist.
