LOCAL police said they did not arrest a Chinese national accused of money laundering as they were not asked to do so by authorities in China, even though an Interpol Red Notice had been issued for him.
Yan Zhenxing, a Singapore permanent resident in his early 40s, was detained by Indonesian authorities last Monday after he arrived at a ferry terminal in Batam, a popular resort island south of the city-state. He had travelled there from Singapore, according to Indonesia’s state news agency Antara.
The Indonesian report said Yan is a fugitive wanted by Interpol China for online gambling, and that he is suspected of being involved in a criminal gang that allegedly laundered money. Yan went to Batam for a holiday with his family, the Associated Press reported earlier. Indonesian authorities announced his arrest at a press conference on Thursday and showed him handcuffed and flanked by immigration officers.
The development raised questions about how Yan had been living in Singapore while there was an Interpol Red Notice – which alerts police about internationally wanted fugitives – for him.
The Singapore Police Force said that it was aware of the Interpol Red Notice against Yan. Under Singapore laws, the notice “does not confer the police with the powers to arrest a fugitive wanted by a foreign jurisdiction,” it said in a joint statement with the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority.
“The Police would only be able to do so pursuant to an extradition request that fulfills legal requirements. We had not received any request for assistance from the Chinese authorities,” they said.
There wasn’t an Interpol notice for Yan at the point when he was granted permanent residency in Singapore, the agencies added.
They also said Yan “is not currently under any investigation,” and that he wasn’t implicated or investigated in a recent record S$3bil (RM9.86bil) money laundering case that involved many China-born individuals who were residing in Singapore. — Bloomberg
