15-9-2023 (SINGAPORE) An investigation by The Straits Times has revealed that a company partially owned by Su Haijin, one of the 10 individuals implicated in a billion-dollar money laundering case in Singapore, acquired two London buildings for over S$73 million.
The two properties, located at 283 Oxford Street and 11 Princes Street, were jointly purchased for £43.3 million (approximately S$73.5 million) on December 17, 2021, by New Yihao, as per British property records.
Of note, one of these buildings houses a Foot Locker store on Oxford Street, which is known as Europe’s busiest shopping street.
New Yihao is registered in the tax haven of Jersey, an island country off the northwest coast of France. The company was established just two months prior to the acquisition of the London properties.
Su Haijin is identified as a beneficial owner with a stake of over 25 percent in a trust controlling New Yihao. Another entity, Fiduchi Trustees Limited, also holds a stake exceeding 25 percent in the company.
Reports highlighting Su’s connection to the property transactions initially surfaced through American media outlet Radio Free Asia and the investigative platform Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Su, a 40-year-old Cypriot national born in China, currently faces charges of money laundering and resisting arrest in Singapore. Authorities allege that he possesses over $4 million in a UOB bank account, which is purportedly proceeds from illegal remote gambling activities. Authorities have already seized more than $170 million in assets belonging to Su and his wife.
During a recent court hearing in Singapore, it was revealed that Su owned 10 overseas properties with a combined value exceeding $14.2 million. Apart from the London property, his holdings include a condo in Cambodia, three condos in Cyprus, and five condos in Macau.
In the meantime, Su’s wife and four children are reportedly relocating from a good class bungalow in Bukit Timah, which they were renting, to Gramercy Park, a condominium in the Orchard Road area of Singapore. Su’s business records indicate that his registered address is a unit within this condominium.
Radio Free Asia also reported that another individual implicated in the money laundering case, Lin Baoying, acquired a penthouse apartment in a 65-story luxury residential skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London’s renowned financial district, for £1.78 million in December 2021. Lin, a 43-year-old Chinese national, faces two forgery charges and one charge of perverting the course of justice in Singapore. Authorities in Singapore have seized assets belonging to Lin valued at approximately $200 million, one of the highest amounts among the 10 individuals involved in the case.
Furthermore, Radio Free Asia revealed that New Yihao was established by the Fiduchi Group, which lists luxury yacht-broker Imperial Yachts and its owner, Evgeniy Kochman, as clients. Both Imperial Yachts and Kochman, a Russian national, were sanctioned by the United States Treasury in 2022 for assisting Russian oligarchs in concealing and managing their wealth and luxury assets.
