Yahoo Finance Deutsche Bank is creditor to alleged launderers’ Singapore firm
By Low De Wei and Alfred Cang
(Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG is a creditor to a Singapore company whose two directors were arrested for their roles in an alleged money laundering and forgery ring.
The bank has a charge that was registered on May 22 against Golden Eagle Assets Pte. The firm’s directors Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying, and eight others, were indicted in a Singapore court last week for money laundering and forgery involving assets worth over S$1 billion ($738 million).
Deutsche Bank’s facility to Golden Eagle Assets is secured against “all monies” at the investment holding company, according to corporate filings reviewed by Bloomberg News, that didn’t specify the facility’s size. Golden Eagle Assets hasn’t been named in the criminal investigation.
“It is Deutsche Bank’s general practice to fully cooperate with authorities,” a spokesperson for the German lender said in response to queries from Bloomberg News, declining to comment on specific cases. The bank has “zero tolerance for its global network being misused for financial crime.”
Deutsche Bank is the latest lender to be embroiled in the scandal that raises questions about guardrails against illicit money flowing into the financial hub. The Chinese duo was charged for trying to cheat Malaysia’s CIMB Bank Bhd. about their ownership and sale of a property in Macau. Citigroup Inc.’s Singapore subsidiary allegedly received fake documents from other suspects.
The police declined to comment as investigations are ongoing.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore had earlier said suspicious fund flows and other inconsistencies prompted unnamed banks to file suspicious transaction reports. The information prompted a probe which led to the arrests. The financial regulator also separately said it was assessing whether financial firms had taken all reasonable steps to mitigate against money laundering and terror financing risks, according to the Straits Times.
Golden Eagle Assets was incorporated in the city-state in Oct. 2019, according to the business filing. Lin listed a unit in Fuzhou, the capital of China’s Fujian province as her residence, while Zhang listed a Pearl Island property on Singapore’s southern Sentosa island as his.
Lin and Zhang were arrested at a luxury bungalow in Sentosa, a popular leisure area for locals and home to many ultra-rich foreigners. The couple are in remand and didn’t enter pleas during the initial court hearing. Zhang is due back in court on Wednesday.
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