SINGAPORE: Lawyers for one of the 10 people charged in relation to Singapore’s largest money laundering probe revealed on Wednesday (Nov 15) that their client was at high risk of gastric cancer.
They asked that Su Baolin be released on bail, proposing 24-hour surveillance with a guard by his side to mitigate any flight risk.
The lawyers said Changi Prison’s Complex Medical Centre (CMC) was “needlessly (gambling)” with Su’s life – an allegation that the prosecution strongly objected to.
Su, a 42-year-old who is listed as Cambodian in charge sheets, has been remanded for about three months while investigations into the two charges against him were ongoing.
He is accused of conspiring with a man to make a borrowing agreement to commit fraud, intending to use the false document to cheat Standard Chartered Bank around December 2020.
He is also accused of using a forged income declaration certificate from a company called Zhengjiang Chengnabaili Import & Export Co showing that he was an executive director of the firm, to submit to Citibank as supporting documentation.
The S$2.8 billion (US$2 billion) money laundering probe made headlines in mid-August when police conducted simultaneous raids in upmarket neighbourhoods, with luxury properties, cars, jewellery and assets seized or frozen.
Based on court documents, Su is friends with co-accused Su Haijin. He is also purportedly a golf partner of co-accused Zhang Ruijin.
From the outset when Su was first charged, lawyers Sunil Sudheesan, Joyce Khoo and Diana Ngiam of Quahe Woo & Palmer had flagged his congenital heart condition.
Related:
Purchased passports, shell companies: What affidavits reveal about the accused in the S$2.8b money laundering case
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Wednesday’s hearing began after a lengthy delay due to technical difficulties.
Su, who appeared in court via video link from hospital, could not hear the Mandarin interpreter who was speaking to him from the court, and it took several people multiple tries at the hospital’s end to get the connection up and running.
The hearing was originally fixed for a bail review sought by the defence, but this did not proceed because the prosecution asked for more time as the defence had provided its submissions only on Wednesday morning.
The prosecution needed time to review the documents and to decide if any affidavits needed to be filed in response.
In particular, Deputy Public Prosecutor R Arvindren said the defence’s allegation that the prison’s Complex Medical Centre needlessly “gambles” with Su’s life is a serious accusation.
The defence had said in their written submissions that the Complex Medical Centre does not have the medication required by Su and does not provide adequate care to him.
Mr Arvindren said it was clear that the prosecution needed to file affidavits from at least the Singapore Prison Service to clarify the allegations raised against them.
Mr Sudheesan asked for the bail review to go ahead, saying he was proposing 24-hour surveillance by Certis Cisco or AETOS, to have an officer stationed with his client “all the way”.
This would be at his client’s own cost, he said, adding that the bail conditions he was proposing would “absolutely destroy any sort of flight risk”.
He also invited the prosecutor to tell him how Su could run with all these conditions in place.
The prosecutor then maintained that the Complex Medical Centre and prison service should be given the opportunity to respond to the allegations made in the defence submissions.
The judge adjourned the bail review hearing to Dec 15.