Tracking and Identifying Suspicious Transactions Involving Money Laundering Activities

Miss Rachel Ong asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether there are plans to extend the upcoming Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing (ML/TF) Information and Cases (COSMIC) digital platform to include major banks in the region in order to facilitate sharing of information on suspicious transactions and customers across neighbouring regional countries after Singapore’s network has been set up.

Mr Don Wee asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how does the Ministry work with the Ministry of Home Affairs to deter and identify fraudulent applications for employment passes and Work Permits; and (b) how does the Ministry work with foreign governments and institutions to verify the information provided by applicants.

Mr Don Wee asked the Minister for Home Affairs what measures are in place to detect money laundering through movements of illegal funds using high value items, such as luxury goods, jewellery, art and vehicles.

Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant asked the Minister for Home Affairs what is currently being done to stop the use of landed homes in Sentosa Cove and non-traditional assets like golf club memberships and yachts from being used to further money laundering.

Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether real estate agents licensed by the Council for Estate Agencies are trained to identify and report suspicious property transactions; (b) what checks are in place to ensure that Singapore's property market is not being targeted or misused for money laundering activities; and (c) how does the Ministry include other industry professionals like lawyers and accountants in preventing money laundering through property transactions.

Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) since 1 January 2016, how many applications from foreigners have been received by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to purchase landed properties in Sentosa Cove; (b) how many of these applications have not been approved; and (c) what additional steps can be taken by SLA to prevent foreign citizens with criminal intent to conduct cross-border organised crimes from purchasing landed properties in Sentosa Cove.

Miss Rachel Ong asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether there are plans to set up a multi-Ministry anti-money laundering task force to coordinate and strengthen the monitoring and detection of suspicious activities related to money laundering.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Home Affairs in each of the last three years (a) how many suspicious transaction reports (STRs) were filed with regard to property transactions; (b) how many of such property transactions were later found to be involved in money laundering (ML) or terrorism financing (TF) activities; and (c) how many individuals were prosecuted for failure to file an STR when they knew or had reason to suspect that any property may have been connected to ML or TF activities.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the tools and databases which the Council for Estate Agencies provides to estate agents (EAs) and real estate salespersons (RESs) to aid them in conducting Customer Due Diligence on their clients; (b) how does CEA make EAs and RESs aware of these tools and databases, if any; and (c) whether EAs and RESs actively use them.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether individuals entering Singapore are checked against a list of suspicious individuals at their time of entry; and (b) how are individuals using passports from multiple countries or false identities being prevented from entering Singapore.