Jul 13, 2010

SINGAPORE takes a 'total' approach when it comes to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, said Law Minister K Shanmugam on Tuesday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 13th annual meeting of Asia-Pacific group on Money Laundering, Mr Shanmugam said this consists of proactive prevention and a rigorous regulatory regime across multiple sectors, reinforced by strong enforcement action and stern punitive measures for deterrence.

Citing an example of how Singapore put this total approach into action, Mr Shanmugam said the Republic in 2007 observed several cases of syndicates operating scams involving extortion of monies through false lotteries, kidnapping threats and official impersonations.

'We dealt with this comprehensively; by educating the general public and increasing awareness of such schemes to prevent further scams, facilitating greater cooperation among enforcement agencies, and meting out stiff deterrent sentences on those involved in the scams and laundering the monies,' Mr Shanmugam said.