SINGAPORE – The arrest of 10 foreigners in Singapore in a billion-dollar money laundering blitz has thrown the spotlight on their alleged links to business interests in Singapore and overseas, and the number of jurisdictions where some of them hold citizenship.

Using publicly available data, The Straits Times set about exploring their international and local links.

ST was also provided information by a source affiliated with the United Nations, which last Tuesday highlighted the role played by scam centres in South-east Asia in human trafficking.

The 10 accused in the money laundering case here are citizens of seven different jurisdictions, including Cambodia. They are believed to have all originated from China.

According to a gazette published by the Cambodian government, which lists the identity of new citizens, nine of them were granted Cambodian citizenship between Aug 2018 and March 2021. China does not allow dual citizenship status.

The granting of Cambodian citizenship for the nine was first reported by Cyber Scam Monitor, a website run by an anonymous group from the human rights, humanitarian, academic and media fields.

ST also found that the same nine allegedly had links to firms in Cambodia.

Separately, a search of the 10 accused persons’ business interests here found one common denominator on Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) records.

The man, identified by ST only as JJ, is listed as director or shareholder of 185 firms in Singapore.

The web of business and personal networks, and the sheer number of assets involved in the Singapore case, have proven a challenge to untangle.

Last week, the prosecution argued successfully for the accused persons’ continued detention, saying that several are allegedly linked to fugitives from overseas jurisdictions and criminal syndicates based overseas.

This information was obtained, in part, from the accused persons themselves.

The 10 accused individuals who were arrested on Aug 15 will appear in court again on Wednesday.