Singapore bank accounts targeted by money laundering syndicate: Alleged member charged
Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
July 22, 2026
An alleged member of a money laundering syndicate targeting Singapore bank accounts was charged on July 22 with engaging in a conspiracy to help others retain crime benefits.
Singapore authorities had earlier issued a warrant of arrest against Tan Kian Hoa, who is a Malaysian, before he was detained at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on July 20.
He was handed over to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) the next day.
In March, Tan, 28, allegedly worked with a group of people including Tey Jia Yee and Wong Hoo Ping to commit the offence linked to the benefits of an undisclosed criminal activity.
Money was then transferred out of multiple MariBank accounts, but court documents did not disclose the amounts involved.
The documents also did not disclose details about Tey and Wong.
In a statement on July 21, SPF said it had earlier conducted a joint two-month operation targeting transnational scams, partnering nine foreign law enforcement agencies.
With information MariBank had provided, the syndicate was disrupted in March during Operation Frontier+ III.
SPF then worked with the Commercial Crime Investigation Department of the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) to arrest Tan.
His case will be mentioned again in August.
If convicted, he can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $500,000, or both.
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