Keynote Address by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong SC, at the 14th China ASEAN Prosecutors General Conference

Your Excellency, Prosecutor-General Ying Yong
Prosecutor-General of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the People’s Republic of China,

Attorneys-General,

Prosecutors-General,

Ladies and Gentlemen, and all our friends from overseas,

I.                   Introduction

1.                 Welcome to Singapore and good morning to all of you.

2.                 Thank you very much for having me here this morning to deliver the keynote address of the 14th China-ASEAN Prosecutors-General Conference.

3.                 I am very honoured to be part of this important event. We have heard the earlier speakers, expounding on why this Conference is not just relevant and important today, but also because of the close relationship between all of us in ASEAN and China, given our strong trade relations and interactions.

II.                 Significance of this Conference

A.                Financial crimes are on the rise

4.                 Indeed, we gather at a time where we are witnessing a global proliferation in financial crimes. This year’s conference theme, “Fostering Cooperation on Combating Financial Crimes”, really could not be timelier.

5.                 The rise in financial crimes is a concerning trend, with member states of the International Criminal Police Organisation (“INTERPOL”) identifying financial fraud as a major threat which is likely to become pervasive in the immediate future. This is evidenced by the fact that 85% of Red Notices and Diffusions issued by INTERPOL member countries between 2022 and 2023 relate to fraud. Asia’s burgeoning digital economies, including Singapore, are increasingly becoming targets of financial crimes. In fact, our own data reflects this:. Data from the Singapore Police Force has shown an 18% increase in the number of scam and cybercrime cases, and a 25% increase in the total amount lost to scams in the first 6 months of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.

B.                Threat to national security and public confidence in legal institutions and frameworks

6.                 Beyond the immediate financial impact, these crimes also pose a grave threat to national security and at the same time, erode public confidence in our legal institutions.

7.                 There are other forms of financial crimes, such as money laundering and securities fraud, which are also on the rise. The magnitude of money laundering is underscored by the substantial volumes of criminal proceeds that are funnelled through financial systems worldwide. INTERPOL estimates that around US$2-3 trillion of illicit proceeds are channelled through the global financial system annually. In Singapore, we have seized S$6 billion linked to criminal and money laundering activities over the past five years.

8.                 Singapore is committed to combatting financial crimes. Domestically, financial crimes threaten our financial ecosystem as well as our position as a global hub for finance, business, and trade. Internationally, INTERPOL has observed that transnational criminal syndicates involved in financial fraud tend to be associated with other serious offences, such as human and also drug trafficking. If left unchecked, such offences diminish public trust in our justice system, they harm our economies, and also weaken our rule of law. 

III.                Rising complexities and transboundary nature of financial crimes

A.           Increasing complexity of transnational crimes

9.                 The complexity of transnational financial crimes is also increasing, driven by factors such as: the pervasive use of technology and artificial intelligence; increase in global interconnectivity; sophisticated and decentralised criminal syndicates which make detection and eradication much harder; cryptocurrency and other forms of property pose challenges to our existing regulatory frameworks and law enforcement agencies.

10.              These complexities, singularly and collectively, make it much harder to: detect criminal activity; identify and apprehend the relevant offenders; and trace and recover assets.

11.               And these collectively make it difficult for us to enforce, especially on a transnational cross-border basis.

B.           Recent Singapore initiatives to strengthen international cooperation in combating financial crimes

12.              In response to these evolving risks, Singapore has been proactive in reviewing and updating our laws to ensure that they remain relevant and effective, and in fact, that they keep ahead of times, ahead of the different ways in which such frauds are being perpetrated. To this end, we have recently introduced several legislative and regulatory levers. Let me outline them this morning.

13.              First, we have introduced legislative amendments which target money laundering.  The methods via which money laundering offences are committed are constantly evolving and changing, and domestic and international safeguards against money laundering must be kept up-to-date and enhanced.

14.              To target this, Singapore introduced a bill earlier this year to amend a section of our Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 (“CDSA”). This amendment allows for the prosecution of persons who knew or had reasonable grounds to believe that the monies they had received were the benefits of criminal conduct. This facilitates our prosecution of money laundering cases arising from overseas criminal conduct, such as in cases where the monies laundered had passed through bank accounts and intermediaries in foreign jurisdictions, before entering into Singapore.

15.              Second, and related to the first, are regulatory initiatives which maximise the recovery of criminal assets. Singapore has made asset recovery a key priority in our national anti-money laundering framework, to maximise the forfeiture of assets and provide restitution to the victims.

16.              In June 2024, Singapore published the National Asset Recovery Strategy, which provides clearer guidance and operational focus to all law enforcement agencies in pursuing asset recovery. As part of this Strategy, Singapore adopts a multi-pronged approach in collaborating with foreign partners to facilitate asset recovery across borders.

17.              For instance, we leverage our Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (“MACMA”) for cooperation in criminal and asset recovery matters with foreign counterparts. Under the MACMA, Singapore can provide mutual legal assistance to another jurisdiction, including, sharing information to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of money laundering and predicate offences, enforcement of foreign confiscation orders, as well as for the search and seizure of items. All these various mechanisms help us internationally to apprehend the offenders, as well as recover assets.

18.              We will also be making amendments to the MACMA to further strengthen our international criminal cooperation regime. These amendments include expanding the definition of “instrumentality forfeiture order” such that it covers not only instrumentalities “used in” but also “intended for use” in money laundering or predicate offences.

19.              Further, Singapore also plays an active role in driving the global asset recovery agenda. In fact, this was a priority during Singapore’s Presidency of the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) (from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2024), where we spearheaded initiatives to strengthen global standards on asset recovery. By the end of the Singapore Presidency, we managed to drive substantive changes to the FATF Recommendations to provide law enforcement with as wide a range of tools as possible related to asset recovery, such as expedited freezing and seizure, enhancing their ability to manage and eventually confiscate as well as forfeit criminal assets. The FATF also revised the FATF Standards to improve international cooperation, such as requiring member countries to recognise and enforce each other’s court orders on the confiscation of benefits. This helps us, collectively as a region, to better apprehend the syndicates that operate across different borders.

20.              More importantly, a key contribution of organisations like the FATF is their role in facilitating international cooperation. This leads me to my subsequent and concluding point.

IV.               Importance of international cooperation

21.              As reflected in this year’s conference theme, all our countries gathered this morning have a shared interest in collectively combating transboundary crime.   

22.              By engaging in forums like this conference, we demonstrate our commitment to upholding the rule of law and maintaining the integrity of our own domestic as well as a shared international financial landscape.

23.              At the domestic level, enactment of effective legislation and legal frameworks remain crucial for facilitating international corporation and deterring criminal conduct. Equally important is the establishment of competent law enforcement authorities capable of detecting, investigating, and disrupting criminal operations.

24.              At the broader international level, adherence to a rules-based order is essential for mutual legal assistance. Organisations like the FATF and its members play a critical role in maintaining the financial system’s integrity by fostering a strong legal international environment that is firmly anchored in the rule of law.

V.                 Closing remarks

25.              As I close, I want to reinforce the point that it is beyond the rules and frameworks that we have; it is important that we work together to bridge regulatory as well as information gaps, and support one another through mutual legal assistance.

26.              This is often most effectively done if we know each other, we understand our systems, and we have a strong and deep people-to-people relations. And for that reason, I am of the view that this morning’s gathering is an important one. I thank all our friends from ASEAN, China, Hong Kong SAR, and Macau SAR, for being here, for being part of this gathering, and for being able to foster those deep relations, which really put people, and the people that operate these systems, at the heart of what we do.

27.              I wish you a fruitful and effective Conference, as we look at transboundary international cooperation in combatting financial crimes. I believe that we can work more effectively by working together and surmount these challenges collectively.

28.              Thank you very much.

Last updated on 29 October 2024